Background
The Tribunal was established to implement the Cairo Declaration, the Potsdam Declaration, the Instrument of Surrender, and the Moscow Conference. The Potsdam Declaration had called for trials and purges of those who had "deceived and misled" the Japanese people into war. However, there was major disagreement, both among the Allies and within their administrations, about whom to try and how to try them. Despite the lack of consensus, General Douglas MacArthur—the Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers—decided to initiate arrests. On September 11, just over a week after the surrender, he ordered the arrest of thirty-nine suspects—most of them members of General Hideki Tōjō's war cabinet. Tōjō tried to commit suicide, but was resuscitated with the help of US doctors.
Read more about this topic: International Military Tribunal For The Far East
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