Britské vojenské procesy v pacifické oblasti po II. světové válce

The presented article analyses the British post-war procedural policy that was applied against persons suspected of crimes under international law in the Pacific region. The first part of the essay deals with the general characteristics of this programme, the procedural rules applied, as well as statistical data on the number of persons charged and convicted and the sentences imposed. The next parts of the article deal with the British procedure in specific trials that have been chosen as a demonstrative sample. In particular, those trials involving senior army and navy officers and persons who had no immediate and direct connection with the armed forces were analysed in depth. An examination of both the qualitative and quantitative aspects of the British trial programme in the Pacific allows the programme to be placed in the overall context of post-war trials that took place within the exclusive jurisdiction of a victorious state. A specific feature of the programme under examination is the fact that its procedural basis was a royal warrant of king George VI, which was followed also in proceedings that took place in the British zone of occupation in divided Germany. The issue under study thus offers a unique opportunity to compare the British approach to the question of punishing war criminals in Europe and in the Pacific.