Page 290 - MaterialsTrial-JapaneseArmy-1950

Answer: Yes.

Question: In other words, this document defined the order of sending to Detachment 731
those people who were to be exterminated, isn't that so?

Answer: Yes.

Question: In this document, on page 92, we can read the following: "Ideological criminals
(criminals connected with the National and Communist movements)," and further: "If,
notwithstanding the minor character of the crime, their release is undesirable."

(The passages are read in Japanese.)

State Prosecutor: Do you recognize the document I have shown you as the official
document that regulated the order of despatching "special consignments"?

Witness Tachibana: Yes, I do.

Question: Do you know the members of the gendarmerie who took part in defining the
categories of persons liable to be despatched in "special consignments"?

Answer: Yes, I can name them.

Question: Do, please.

Answer: The document shown me was drawn up in 1943. At that time I was serving at the
Chief Administration of the Kwantung Gendarmerie as an officer of the Administration. At
that time I was serving in the Criminal Division of the Chief Administration of the Kwantung
Gendarmerie, and an order was received from the Kwantung Army Headquarters to draw up
such a document. In March 1943, I was sent to Mukden to inspect the gendarmerie
administration. During my absence, Major Tsujimoto, who served in my division, edited the
document. When I returned I saw the document and now affirm that it is genuine.

Question: What formalities were connected with the despatch of "Tokui-Atsukai"? What
documents were drawn up by the gendarmerie in this connection?

Answer: Copies of the document just shown me were sent to the gendarmerie
administrations in different towns in Manchuria. The people who were to be despatched in
"special consignments" were kept in the places of detention at the gendarmerie
administrations. Then excerpts from the records of their interrogation, and certificates with
applications for permission to despatch them in "special consignments" were sent to the Chief
Gendarmerie Administration. There, the case was examined, the question was settled, and the
gendarmerie administration that had made the application was sent an order to despatch these
people to Detachment 731 as "special consignments." When the Chief Gendarmerie
Administration received such documents from a local administration, they were sent through
the secretariat

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