. NMT03-T1177
Volume III · Page 1177
| its insignia, its rank, its
honors, and its contacts with the high figures of the Nazi regime. These were
of no small significance in Nazi Germany. For that price he gave his name as a
soldier and a jurist of note and so helped to cloak the shameful deeds of that
organization from the eyes of the German people. Upon the evidence in this case it is the judgment of this Tribunal that the defendant Altstoetter is guilty under count four of the indictment. This Tribunal has held that it has no jurisdiction to try any defendant for the crime of conspiracy as a separate substantive offense, but we recognize that there are allegations in count one of the indictment which constitute charges of direct commission of war crimes and crimes against humanity. However, after eliminating the conspiracy charge from count one, we find that all other alleged criminal acts therein set forth and committed after 1 September 1939 are also charged as crimes in the subsequent counts of the indictment. We therefore find it unnecessary to pass formally upon the remaining charges in count one. Our pronouncements of guilt or innocence under counts two, three, and four dispose of all issues which have been submitted to us. Concerning those defendants who have been found guilty, our conclusions are not based solely upon the facts which we have set forth in the separate discussions of the individual defendants. In the course of 9 months devoted to the trial and consideration of this case, we have reached conclusions based upon evidence and observation of the defendants which cannot fully be documented within the limitations of time and space allotted to us. As we have said, the defendants are not charged with specific overt acts against named victims. They are charged with criminal participation in government-organized atrocities and persecutions unmatched in the annals of history. Our judgments are based upon a consideration of all of the evidence which tends to throw light upon the part which these defendants played in the entire tragic drama. We shall, in pronouncing sentence, give due consideration to circumstances of mitigation and to the proven character and motives of the respective defendants. |
|
| [Signed] | JAMES
T. BRANT) Presiding Judge |
| MALLORY
B. BLAIR Judge |
|
| JUSTIN
W. HARDING Judge |
|
