At the International Criminal Tribunal for Afghanistan held on December 13th and on December 14th, 2003, in Tokyo, the Tribunal finds President Bush guilty of crimes related to the war in Afghanistan.

 

The total 1,700 citizens participated in the court proceedings. Seven witnesses gave testimonies before the court including two people who lost their loved ones by 9.11 attacks in New York and U.S. air-strike in
Afghanistan. Heated sessions continued for a few hours longer than originally scheduled. Finally, the main sentence of judgment was
announced by the chief judge.

 

  (1) The Text of Judgment

 

The chief judge Osamu Niikura announced, "Final decision will be given in detail on March 13 at the final court. However, as the situation is a matter of grave consequence, requiring urgent attention, we will make a brief statement concerning the major part of the decision that all judges agreed, which shall form the part of the final judgment.

 

The summary of the findings is as follows.

 

With regard to the Counts charged in the indictment as well as the supplementary indictment, the Tribunal finds defendant Mr. President Bush;
*Guilty to the Count 1, the crime of aggression.
*Guilty to the Count 2, War crimes, specifically,
- War crime of attacking civilians
- War crime of attacking civilian objects
     However, the Tribunal finds defendant Mr. President Bush;
*Basically guilty of the ill-treatment of prisoners-of-war and detainees, which means defendant Mr. President Bush is guilty of war crime of inhuman treatment in Qala-i-Jangi Prison and Guantanamo Prison, while the Tribunal finds defendant Mr. President Bush;
*Not guilty as to the transportation of prisoners by containers because there was not enough evidence to prove that he is responsible for
the transportation.
*Guilty to the Count 3, crimes against humanity, specifically,
- Crimes against humanity related to creation of incremental refugee crisis
- Crimes against humanity related to use of depleted uranium weapons

 

  (2) Recommendations
In regard of the recommendations requested by the prosecutors, namely,
(a) affirmation of the principles of settlement of international dispute by non-military peaceful means, (b) Compensation to the war victims in
Afghanistan, (c) ban on the manufacturing, storage and use of DU weapons, and cluster bombs, the chief judge stated as follows.
With a comment that recommendations must not be restricted to the above three subjects, the judges agree to the overall contents of the three recommendations. However, partly because there is no time to prepare
recommendations and partly because judges have discussed the possibilities of additional recommendations and points to be strengthened so that they would be more effective, it is agreed that the formal recommendations shall be presented in detail at the fourth court on March 12th, 2004.

 

(3)The next Tribunal will be held on March 13th, 2004 in Tokyo. The fourth trial will be held in the afternoon of Saturday, March 13, 2004 in Tokyo. The entire text of judgment and recommendations shall be presented on that occasion. The executive committee will announce the detailed schedule as soon as they are settled.