Victor's Justice - Allegations of Victor's Justice

Allegations of Victor's Justice

A stark and detailed example of victor's justice is presented by James Madison Page in his 1908 book The True Story of Andersonville Prison, subtitled "A Defense of Major Henry Wirz." After describing his months as a prisoner of war of the Confederacy, the author recounts the imprisonment and trial of Major Henry Wirz, CSA, commandant of the prison camp operated at Andersonville, Ga. during the American Civil War. Many of the phenomena and issues later observed in the war-crimes trials following the Second World War may be seen in this account of Wirz's trial, conviction, sentencing, and execution.

The Nuremberg Criminal Court for war crimes (and subsidiary courts like the Dachau International Military Tribunal) prosecuted only Axis nationals or collaborators. However, it is usual that the armed forces of a civilized country will issue their forces with detailed guidance on what is and is not permitted under their military code.

These are drafted to include any international treaty obligations and the customary laws of war. For example, at the trial of Otto Skorzeny his defense was in part based on the Field Manual published by the War Department of the United States Army, on 1 October 1940, and the American Soldiers' Handbook. If a member of the armed forces breaks their own military code they can expect to face a court martial. When members of the Allied armed forces broke their military codes they could be tried, as for example the Dachau massacre or the Biscari Massacre trials. The unconditional surrender of the Axis powers was unusual and led directly to the formation of the international tribunals. Usually international wars end conditionally and the treatment of suspected war criminals makes up part of the peace treaty. In most cases those who are not prisoners of war are tried under their own judicial system if they are suspected of committing war crimes – as happened at the end of the concurrent Continuation War, where Allied Control Commission provided a list of occurrences of war crimes and crimes against peace and the investigation and judgment of these cases were left to Finnish courts according to Finnish law. However, an ex post facto law had to be instated for those cases, as the Finnish Criminal Act didn't contain a concept of being responsible for politics resulting in a war. In restricting the international tribunal to trying suspected Axis war crimes, the Allies were acting within normal international law.