Confessions of Japanese war criminals

Editor's note: To offer a clearer picture of history, the State Archives Administration released a large number of files on 45 Japanese war criminals who were tried and convicted in China after World War II. The special military tribunal of the Supreme People's Court held public trials, sentencing the criminals to between eight and 20 years in jail. China Daily is publishing abstracts of the criminals' confessions.

Hiroshi Hara

Born in Okayama prefecture, Japan, in 1895, Hara went to Northeast China in March 1933 to take part in Japan's invasion of China. He served as guard division chief of the inspection department, and major general and chief of staff of the railway security police forces in "Manchukuo". He was arrested in September 1945.

His major offenses:

In May 1937, he ordered his troops to search civilian houses in Tangyuan to interrogate the city's Chinese residents. One of his soldiers shot a Chinese boy in the head. The boy later died.

From July 1943, he served as a member of the southwest defense committee. During his term, he helped mobilize forces to assault, arrest and suppress the Eighth Route Army as well as innocent Chinese in the Rehe area. During two large assaults in September and October, he arrested roughly 1,000 anti-Japanese agents and residents across Rehe province, 500 of whom were sent for interrogation to the Chengde branch of the Jinzhou high procuratorate. During his arrests and interrogations of Chinese, he tortured and sometimes killed his captives using harsh methods such as feeding prisoners with excessive amounts of water or kerosene oil. He also forced people to carry heavy stones and scalded them with searing hot tongs.

Ryusuke Sako

Born in Yamaguchi prefecture, Japan, in 1892, Sako went to Northeast China in November 1934 to take part in Japan's invasion of China. He served as section chief of the inspection department of the railway security police forces in "Manchukuo" and major general and brigade commander of railway security forces in Jilin and Mudanjiang. He was arrested in August 1945.

His major offenses:

In August 1941, he captured roughly 60 Chinese residents near Huodoushan along the Jin-Gu Railway and sentenced two of them to death.

After 1941, he assisted in household reorganization work along the railways, which led to the destruction of the homes of 3,000 families.

In March 1943, he arrested about 150 Chinese in Xiabai and transferred 100 of them to the Chengde procuratorate. During his term in Jinzhou, he ordered railway security forces to conduct weekly investigations and arrests of more than 3,000 Chinese.

(China Daily USA 07/29/2014 page5)