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| |  | | Kiichiro Hiranuma | | | context : | Japan  | | judgement place : | Tokyo IMT | | status : | Sentenced | | particulars : | Sentenced 12 November 1948 to life imprisonment; granted an early release in 1952 | | position : | Member of the Supreme Council of War |
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| | | | The son of a samurai, Kiichiro Hiranuma was born on 28 September, 1867.
In 1888, he obtained a degree in English at the Imperial University of Tokyo and quickly found a job within the Ministry of Justice, where he gained a reputation of fighting against government corruption. He was appointed Director of the Tokyo High Court and the Prosecutor in the Supreme Court, and Director of the Office of Civil and Criminal Matters. In 1929, he convicted 25 members of the Japanese Parliament, past and present, for accepting bribes.
In 1911, Kiichiro Hiranuma was appointed Vice-Minister of Justice, and Attorney General in 1912. Three years later, he forced Kanetake, the Minister of the Interior, to resign on suspicion of corruption.
Meanwhile, he established, with Sadao Araki (see "related cases") a patriotic society named Kokuhonsha which he led for a time, and he participated in other nationalist groups.
In 1921, Hiranuma was appointed Head of the Supreme Court of Japan.
From September 1923 to January 1924, he held the post of Minister of Justice. He then participated in the creation of the tokko (the “Thought Police”), whose mission was to fight against communism, socialism and other ideologies regarded as subversive.
The following year he was appointed Chairman of the House of Peers and became a member of the Privy Council of the Emperor. He was knighted in 1926 and gained the title of Baron. Within the Privy Council, where he remained for more than 10 years and became President from 1936 to 1939, he had an important influence. He supported the Japanese Imperial Army after it had taken control of Manchuria, and participated in the creation of the state of Manchukuo. He also called for the withdrawal of Japan from the League of Nations.
In 1939, Kiichiro Hiranuma became Prime Minister. At that time, senior Japanese politicians questioned the need for Japan to join forces with Nazi Germany to neutralise the Soviet threat. Hiranuma was in favour of an anti-communist pact but feared seeing Japan dragged into a war with the USA and Britain, while most Japanese troops were already fighting in China. He also continued to support the military’s plans for aggression. His cabinet resigned at the end of August 1939, following the signing of the German-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact and the defeat of Japan in Mongolia against the USSR.
On 21 December 1940, Kiichiro Hiranuma was appointed Minister of the Interior within the second administration of Konoye, then in the Funimaro government. In this post, he defended the Shintoism of the state. He also opposed the tripartite pact between Japan, Germany and Italy. He left his post as Minister on July 18, 1941.
During the Second World War, while occupying no official position, Hiranuma was adviser to Emperor Hiro Hito, and continued to support the Japanese policy of aggression and the use of force, particularly in East Asia. Hiranuma is seen as a leader of the conspiracy, and is accused of having participated in the development of Japanese aggressive policies that led to the outbreak of war with China, the USA, Britain , The Netherlands and the USSR.
He was appointed President of the Privy Council of the Emperor in April 1945. On 5th April he recommended that Japan continued the war and opposed any opening for peace.
At the end of the war, Kiichiro Hiranuma was arrested by the Allied troops and imprisoned in Sugamo. | |     click for more... | | Trial Watch would like to remind its users that any person charged by national or international authorities is presumed innocent until proven guilty. | |  |  | | nationality : | | | Japan | | | date of birth : | | | 28.09.1867 | | | judgement period : | | | 06.05.1946 - 12.11.1948 | | | charges : | | | Aggression | | | profile last modified : | | | 14.09.2008 |
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