The General Who Did Not Stop His Troops

An enemy general commanded an army during the last year of the war. Troops under him killed and brutalised civilians and prisoners. After the surrender he was put on trial before a military commission set up by the victorious army. The charge was not that he ordered the crimes, but that he failed to control his men. His lawyers argued the commission had no power to try him after the fighting ended, that the charge was not a crime under the law of war, and that hearsay was wrongly allowed.