Written 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 prison. China Daily is publishing abstracts of the criminals' confessions.

Mitsuaki Kimura

According to his written confession, Mitsuaki Kimura was a lieutenant captain in the Japanese Garrison Army in Handan, Hebei, in 1939. Kimura then served as the captain of the Boli County Military Police Branch of the "Manchukuo", from November 1944 to 1945.

In March 1942, Kimura arrested 30 underground operators of the Eighth Route Army in Shixia, a town in Miyun county, and ordered his subordinates to interrogate them on the spot.

In January 1943, Kimura arrested and tortured 150 Chinese people, seven of whom died from the torture. He later put 70 of the remaining 143 in prison.

In 1943, Kimura also ordered the military police to barbarously drive away the peasants who lived separately by tearing down their houses.

In April 1945, Kimura arrested a woman who was about 20 years old and forced her to be his mistress by claiming her father was an agent of the Soviet Union.

Saburo Shimamura

According to his written confession, Saburo Shimamura was born in Kochi prefecture, Japan, in 1908. In October 1934, he served on the staff of the Investigation Division of the Mongolian and Tibetan Ministry of the "Manchukuo". In July 1945, Shimamura became chief of the Investigation Division in the Secret Service Department of the puppet Police Administration.

Among Shimamura's major offenses, in October 1939, in order to suppress an uprising, he arrested more than 100 patriots and sentenced 10 of them to death.

In November 1939, Shimamura arrested two people and killed one of them for having let Soviet agents stay in their house.

During his term in Zhaozhou county, Shimamura arrested 200 patriots, 70 of whom were sent to court. As many as 30 were sentenced to death.

(China Daily 08/05/2014 page4)