Trial of the Major War Criminals before International Military Tribunal ...

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tribunal. It may also be difficult to state the principles which must
be observed to enable proceedings before a criminal court to be
called a trial. We are, however, not concerned here with a border-
line case. It is evident that the "Standgerichte" lacked almost every
quality which, according to general opinion, a tribunal ought to
possess; and that the trials before these "Courts" offended practically
against every principle which has to be respected under the laws
of all civilised nations. The "Standgerichte" can certainly not be
considered as tribunals, nor their proceedings as trials and sentences.
Executions carrying out the "sentences" of the "Standgerichte"
do not differ in any way from executions without trial. They must
be qualified as murder.
It is impossible, in the provisions which regulate the proceedings
before the "Standgerichte", to discover the least vestige of humanity.
The rule, for instance, which requires the sentence to be executed
immediately, and the practice which does not grant the condemned
man even a brief respite to prepare himself for death, is a form of
brutality which, like the whole institution of the "Standgerichte"
aims at terrorising the population.
(b) The State of Civil Emergency,
May 27th,1942 -July 3rd, 1942.
On May 27th, 1942 Czech patriots made an attempt on the life of
the Deputy Reich Protector R. HEYDRICH. HEYDRICH, with whose
name the wave of brutal oppression started on September 27th, 1941,
and directed against the resistance movement in Czechoslovakia is
closely connected, was mortally wounded and died from his wounds
on June 4th, 1942.
The punishment of HEYDRICH by members of the Czechoslovak
underground movement approved not only by the Czech people but
also by the whole civilised world, opened a new chapter of terrorism,
if possible more intensive, inhuman and ruthless than ever before..
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With the Proclamation of May 27th, 1942 (V.Bl.R.Prot., p.123)
signed by K.H.FRANK for the Reich Protector (Annex 15) a State
of Civil Emergency was brought into force (for the second time)
throughout the whole Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. Again
the ill-famed "Standgerichte" were set up. The time of their activity
could not yet be reliably ascertained. The State of Civil Emergency
declared on May 27th, 1942, was lifted by Decree of the Deputy Reich