History demands that General Wiranto be tried for war crimes

Then in 1863 the United States issued and promulgated a General order 100 better known as the Lieber Code, Article 71 of which provided for the punishment of commanders who ordered or encouraged the intentional killing of an already “wholly disabled enemy”. Post Civil war investigations led to the hanging of Commandant of the Confederate Prisoner of War Camp, Andersonville, Georgia Captain Henry Wirz for violations of the Lieber Code in particular the torture, maltreatment and death of prisoners of war under his charge.

More recently in April, 1902 President Roosevelt, upon confirming the conviction of a Brigadier – General of the United States Army for his conduct of operations in Philippines, is quoted as stating:

The very fact that welfare is of such character as to avoid infinite provocation for the commission of acts of cruelty by junior and the enlisted men, must make the officer in high and responsible positions peculiarly careful in their bearing and conduct so as to keep a moral check over any acts of an improper character by their subordinates. (Green, 1995)

The brigadier had issued the following order:

Take no prisoners. I wish you to burn and kill; the more you burn and kill, the better it will please me. The interior of Samar must be made into a howling mess. (Heinl, 1962)

Arising from the same conflict in the Philippine Islands, by General Order No. 221, Headquarters Division of the Philippines, First Lieutenant Natalio Valencia was tried for war crimes and sentenced to death for ordering the illegal execution of non-combatants, on the 17 August 1901. So too by General Order No. 264, Pedro A. Cruz was condemned to death, for permitting the murder of two American prisoners of war in his custody as leader of a guerrilla force.

At the conclusion of World War I, an international commission on the Responsibility of the Authors of the War and on Enforcement of Penalties met in Versailles. In a report published this commission made the recommendation that an international tribunal be set up to try the crimes related to war. In this report delivered in March 1919 Part III concluded:

All persons, belonging to enemy countries, however high their position may have been, without distinction of rank, including Chief of Staff, who have been guilty of offences against the laws and customs of war or the laws of Humanity, are liable to criminal prosecution.

So by the time World War II began belligerent state were governed by a custom of command responsibility codified by the Hague Convention 1907 and the Red Cross Convention 1929 and a warning that should have been evident from the unfulfilled demands of the Versailles Treaty that command responsibility would be enforce in any future conflict.

When the world learned of the genocidal practices of Nazi Germany and the actions of Japanese forces the collective conscience of the world was shocked. These hostilities served as a catalyst and led representatives of many of the victimised states to issue the St James Declaration in January 1942, which promised to punish “through the channels of organised justice” those responsible for War Crimes. (Freidman, 1972)

On August 8, 1945 the Allies signed the London Agreement establishing the International Military Tribunal with a jurisdiction that was not limited to geographical location. This Tribunal had powers to try both military commanders and civilian leaders as per Article 6 of the Charter of the International Military Tribunal.

Japanese General Yamishita testified in his own defense that he both recognised and acknowledged the concept of command responsibility as applicable to his action but insisted that that he both maintained and adhered to his responsibilities.