The Charter of the International Military Tribunal
The charter of the IMT is divided into seven sections outlining how the IMT functions. It is the part of the Agreement of London that formally lays out how the Nuremberg Trials would proceed.
Text from www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/imt/jackson/jack60.htm
In
pursuance of the Agreement
signed on the 8th day of August 1945 by the Government of the United
States of America, the Provisional Government of the French Republic, the
Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the
Government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, there shall be
established an International Military Tribunal (hereinafter called "the
Tribunal'') for the just and prompt trial and punishment of the major war
criminals of the European Axis.
The
Tribunal shall consist of four members, each with an alternate. One member and
one alternate shall be appointed by each of the Signatories. The alternates
shall, so far as they are able, be present at all sessions of the Tribunal. In
case of illness of any member of the Tribunal or his incapacity for some other
reason to fulfill his functions, his alternate shall take his place.
Neither
the Tribunal, its members nor their alternates can be challenged by the
prosecution, or by the Defendants or their Counsel. Each Signatory may replace
its members of the Tribunal or his alternate for reasons of health or for other
good reasons, except that no replacement may take place during a Trial, other
than by an alternate.
(a) The presence of all four members of the Tribunal or the
alternate for any absent member shall be necessary to constitute the quorum.
(b) The members of the Tribunal shall, before any trial
begins, agree among themselves upon the selection from their number of a
President, and the President shall hold office during the trial, or as may
otherwise be agreed by a vote of not less than three members. The principle of
rotation of presidency for successive trials is agreed. If, however, a session
of the Tribunal takes place on the territory of one of the four Signatories,
the representative of that Signatory on the Tribunal shall preside.
(c) Save as aforesaid the Tribunal shall take decisions by a
majority vote and in case the votes are evenly divided, the vote of the
President shall be decisive: provided always that convictions and sentences
shall only be imposed by affirmative votes of at least three members of the
Tribunal.
In
case of need and depending on the number of the matters to be tried, other
Tribunals may be set up; and the establishment, functions, and procedure of
each Tribunal shall be identical, and shall be governed by this Charter.
The
Tribunal established by the Agreement referred to m Article 1 hereof for the
trial and punishment of the major war criminals of the European Axis countries
shall have the power to try and punish persons who, acting in the interests of
the European Axis countries, whether as individuals or as members of
organizations, committed any of the following crimes.
The
following acts, or any of them, are crimes coming within the jurisdiction of the
Tribunal for which there shall be individual responsibility:
(a) CRIMES AGAINST PEACE: namely, planning,
preparation, initiation or waging of a war of aggression, or a war in violation
of international treaties, agreements or assurances, or participation in a
common plan or conspiracy for the accomplishment of any of the foregoing;
(b) WAR CRIMES: namely, violations of the laws or
customs of war. Such violations shall include, but not be limited to, murder,
ill-treatment or deportation to slave labor or for any other purpose of
civilian population of or in occupied territory, murder or ill-treatment of
prisoners of war or persons on the seas, killing of hostages, plunder of public
or private property, wanton destruction of cities, towns or villages, or devastation
not justified by military necessity;
(c)CRIMES
AGAINST HUMANITY: namely, murder,
extermination, enslavement, deportation, and other inhumane acts committed
against any civilian population, before or during the war; or persecutions on
political, racial or religious grounds in execution of or in connection with
any crime within the jurisdiction of the Tribunal, whether or not in violation
of the domestic law of the country where perpetrated.
Leaders,
organizers, instigators and accomplices participating in the formulation or
execution of a common plan or conspiracy to commit any of the foregoing crimes
are responsible for all acts performed by any persons in execution of such
plan.
The
official position of defendants, whether as Heads of State or responsible
officials in Government Departments, shall not be considered as freeing them
from responsibility or mitigating punishment.
The
fact that the Defendant acted pursuant to order of his Government or of a
superior shall not free him from responsibility, but may be considered in
mitigation of punishment if the Tribunal determines that justice so requires.
At
the trial of any individual member of any group or organization the Tribunal
may declare (in connection with any act of which the individual may be
convicted) that the group or organization of which the individual was a member
was a criminal organization.
After
the receipt of the Indictment
the Tribunal shall give such notice as it thinks fit that the prosecution
intends to ask the Tribunal to make such declaration and any member of the
organization will be entitled to apply to the Tribunal for leave to be heard by
the Tribunal upon the question of the criminal character of the organization.
The Tribunal shall have power to allow or reject the application. If the
application is allowed, the Tribunal may direct in what manner the applicants
shall be represented and heard.
In
cases where a group or organization is declared criminal by the Tribunal, the
competent national authority of any Signatory shall have the right to bring
individual to trial for membership therein before national, military or
occupation courts. In any such case the criminal nature of the group or
organization is considered proved and shall not be questioned.
Any
person convicted by the Tribunal may be charged before a national, military or
occupation court, referred to in Article 10
of this Charter, with a crime other than of membership in a criminal group or
organization and such court may, after convicting him, impose upon him punishment
independent of and additional to the punishment imposed by the Tribunal for
participation in the criminal activities of such group or organization.
The
Tribunal shall have the right to take proceedings against a person charged with
crimes set out in Article
6 of this Charter in his absence, if he has not been found or if the
Tribunal, for any reason, finds it necessary, in the interests of justice, to
conduct the hearing in his absence.
The
Tribunal shall draw up rules
for its procedure. These rules
shall not be inconsistent with the provisions of this Charter.
Each
Signatory shall appoint a Chief Prosecutor for the investigation of the charges
against and the prosecution of major war criminals.
The
Chief Prosecutors shall act as a committee for the following purposes:
(a) to agree upon a plan of the individual work of each of the
Chief Prosecutors and his staff,
(b) to settle the final designation of major war criminals to
be tried by the Tribunal,
(c) to approve the Indictment
and the documents to be submitted therewith,
(d) to lodge the Indictment
and the accompany documents with the Tribunal,
(e) to draw up and recommend to the Tribunal for its approval
draft rules
of procedure, contemplated by Article 13
of this Charter. The Tribunal shall have the power to accept, with or without
amendments, or to reject, the rules so recommended.
The
Committee shall act in all the above matters by a majority vote and shall
appoint a Chairman as may be convenient and in accordance with the principle of
rotation: provided that if there is an equal division of vote concerning the
designation of a Defendant to be tried by the Tribunal, or the crimes with
which he shall be charged, that proposal will be adopted which was made by the
party which proposed that the particular Defendant be tried, or the particular
charges be preferred against him.
The
Chief Prosecutors shall individually, and acting in collaboration with one
another, also undertake the following duties:
(a) investigation, collection and production before or at the
Trial of all necessary evidence,
(b) the preparation of the Indictment
for approval by the Committee in accordance with paragraph (c) of Article 14
hereof,
(c) the preliminary examination of all necessary witnesses and
of all Defendants,
(d) to act as prosecutor at the Trial,
(e) to appoint representatives to carry out such duties as may
be assigned them,
(f) to undertake such other matters as may appear necessary to
them for the purposes of the preparation for and conduct of the Trial.
It
is understood that no witness or Defendant detained by the Signatory shall be
taken out of the possession of that Signatory without its assent.
In
order to ensure fair trial for the Defendants, the following procedure shall be
followed:
(a) The Indictment
shall include full particulars specifying in detail the charges against the
Defendants. A copy of the Indictment
and of all the documents lodged with the Indictment, translated into a language
which he understands, shall be furnished to the Defendant at reasonable time
before the Trial.
(b) During any preliminary examination or trial of a Defendant
he will have the right to give any explanation relevant to the charges made
against him.
(c)
A preliminary examination of a Defendant
and his Trial shall be conducted in, or translated into, a language which the
Defendant understands.
(d) A Defendant shall have the right to conduct his own
defense before the Tribunal or to have the assistance of Counsel.
(e) A Defendant shall have the right through himself or
through his Counsel to present evidence at the Trial in support of his defense,
and to cross-examine any witness called by the Prosecution.
The
Tribunal shall have the power
(a) to summon witnesses to the Trial and to require their
attendance and testimony and to put questions to them
(b) to interrogate any Defendant,
(c) to require the production of documents and other
evidentiary material,
(d)
to administer oaths to witnesses,
(e) to appoint officers for the carrying out of any task
designated by the Tribunal including the power to have evidence taken on
commission.
The
Tribunal shall
(a) confine the Trial strictly to an expeditious hearing of
the cases raised by the charges,
(b) take strict measures to prevent any action which will
cause reasonable delay, and rule out irrelevant issues and statements of any
kind whatsoever,
(c)
deal summarily with any contumacy,
imposing appropriate punishment, including exclusion of any Defendant or his Counsel
from some or all further proceedings, but without prejudice to the
determination of the charges.
The
Tribunal shall not be bound by technical rules of evidence. It shall adopt and
apply to the greatest possible extent expeditious and nontechnical procedure,
and shall admit any evidence which it deems to be of probative value.
The
Tribunal may require to be informed of the nature of any evidence before it is
entered so that it may rule upon the relevance thereof.
The
Tribunal shall not require proof of facts of common knowledge but shall take
judicial notice thereof. It shall also take judicial notice of official
governmental documents and reports of the United Nations, including the acts and
documents of the committees set up in the various allied countries for the
investigation of war crimes, and of records and findings of military or other
Tribunals of any of the United Nations.
The
permanent seat of the Tribunal shall be in Berlin. The first meetings of the
members of the Tribunal and of the Chief Prosecutors shall be held at Berlin in
a place to be designated by the Control Council for Germany. The first trial
shall be held at Nuremberg, and any subsequent trials shall be held at such
places as the Tribunal may decide.
One
or more of the Chief Prosecutors may take part in the prosecution at each
Trial. The function of any Chief Prosecutor may be discharged by him
personally, or by any person or persons authorized by him.
The
function of Counsel for a Defendant may be discharged at the Defendant's
request by any Counsel professionally qualified to conduct cases before the
Courts of his own country, or by any other person who may be specially
authorized thereto by the Tribunal.
The
proceedings at the Trial shall take the following course:
(a)
The Indictment
shall be read in court.
(b) The Tribunal shall ask each Defendant whether he pleads
"guilty" or "not guilty.''
(c)
The prosecution shall make an opening
statement.
(d) The Tribunal shall ask the prosecution and the defense
what evidence (if any) they wish to submit to the Tribunal, and the Tribunal
shall rule upon the admissibility of any such evidence.
(e) The witnesses for the Prosecution shall be examined and
after that the witnesses for the Defense. Thereafter such rebutting evidence as
may be held by the Tribunal to be admissible shall be called by either the
Prosecution or the Defense.
(f) The Tribunal may put any question to any witness and to
any defendant, at any time.
(g) The Prosecution and the Defense shall interrogate and may cross
examine any witnesses and any Defendant who gives testimony.
(h) The Defense shall address the court.
(i)
The Prosecution shall address the court.
(j) Each Defendant may make a statement to the Tribunal.
(k) The Tribunal shall deliver judgment
and pronounce sentence.
All
official documents shall be produced, and all court proceedings conducted, in
English, French and Russian, and in the language of the Defendant. So much of
the record and of the proceedings may also be translated into the language of
any country in which the Tribunal is sitting, as the Tribunal is sitting, as
the Tribunal considers desirable in the interests of the justice and public
opinion.
The
judgment
of the Tribunal as to the guilt or the innocence of any Defendant shall give
the reasons on which it is based, and shall be final and not subject to review.
The
Tribunal shall have the right to impose upon a Defendant, on conviction, death
or such other punishment as shall be determined by it to be just.
In
addition to any punishment imposed by it, the Tribunal shall have the right to
deprive the convicted person of any stolen property and order its delivery to
the Control Council for Germany.
In
case of guilt, sentences shall be carried out in accordance with the orders of
the Control Council for Germany, which may at any time reduce or otherwise
alter the sentences, but may not increase the severity thereof. If the Control
Council for Germany, after any Defendant has been convicted and sentenced,
discovers fresh evidence which, in its opinion, would found a fresh charge
against him, the Council shall report accordingly to the Committee established
under Article 14
hereof, for such action as they may consider proper, having regard to the
interests of justice.
The
expenses of the Tribunal and of the Trials, shall be charged by the Signatories
against the funds allotted for maintenance of the Control Council of Germany.
Web page by Amy Suelzle
Revised 12/8/02