Italian Fascist War Crimes in Ethiopia - Societa italiana di storia ...
Italian Fascist War Crimes in Ethiopia - Societa italiana di storia ...
Italian Fascist War Crimes in Ethiopia - Societa italiana di storia ...
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<strong>Italian</strong> <strong>Fascist</strong> <strong>War</strong> <strong>Crimes</strong> <strong>in</strong> <strong>Ethiopia</strong> 129<br />
G raziani, and to list the two rema<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g as witnesses, the <strong>Ethiopia</strong>n Gove r n m e n t<br />
had still to face the problem of mount<strong>in</strong>g proceed<strong>in</strong>gs aga<strong>in</strong>st them. The proposed<br />
prosecution faced the <strong>di</strong>fficulty that <strong>Ethiopia</strong> exe rcised no control over the<br />
accused, and could not make any statutory demand for their ex t ra<strong>di</strong>tion fro m<br />
Italy as it had no <strong>di</strong>plomatic relations with that country. It was more over apparent<br />
that co-operation with the <strong>Italian</strong> Government would not be easy, for the latter<br />
showed little desire to <strong>di</strong>sassociate itself from its fascist and/or colonial past.<br />
Faced with these <strong>di</strong>fficulties the <strong>Ethiopia</strong>n Government decided once aga<strong>in</strong> to<br />
wa i ve most of its charges, and to limit itself to the prosecution of only two persons,<br />
albeit the most important: Badoglio and Graziani. It appealed to the British<br />
G overnment, the only member of the Four Great Powers with which it had signed<br />
a tre a t y, and asked that ex t ra<strong>di</strong>tion be carried out through the mach<strong>in</strong>ery of their<br />
Ambassadors <strong>in</strong> Ro m e, <strong>in</strong> accordance with Article 86 of the Peace Tre a t y.<br />
The <strong>Ethiopia</strong>n London Legation accord<strong>in</strong>gly wrote to the Foreign Office, on<br />
23 November 1948. It stated that, though the UN commission had accepted the<br />
cases submitted by the <strong>Ethiopia</strong>n Government, the latter, “as a contribution to<br />
the early re-establishment of peaceful and friendly relations,” had decided to<br />
br<strong>in</strong>g to trial only two <strong>in</strong><strong>di</strong>viduals, Badoglio and Graziani, “the persons most<br />
responsible for the policy of systematic terrorism.” The letter cont<strong>in</strong>ued:<br />
In accordance with the established <strong>in</strong>ternational practice for the trial of<br />
major war crim<strong>in</strong>als, the Imperial <strong>Ethiopia</strong>n Government will constitute<br />
an <strong>in</strong>ternational tribunal consist<strong>in</strong>g of a majority of non-<strong>Ethiopia</strong>n judges.<br />
The pr<strong>in</strong>ciples of law and pro c e d u re to be followed by the Court will be <strong>in</strong><br />
a c c o rdance with those of the Charter of the International Military<br />
Tribunal at Nure m b e rg .<br />
It is considered that the obligations of the <strong>Italian</strong> Government under<br />
the provisions of the Treaty of Peace <strong>in</strong>cluded such measures of custody<br />
or preventive detention as will assure their surrender to the <strong>Ethiopia</strong>n<br />
authorities.<br />
The Imperial <strong>Ethiopia</strong>n Government accord<strong>in</strong>gly <strong>in</strong>vokes their treaty<br />
rights to the surrender of these accused and, under Article 86, paragraph<br />
1 of the Treaty of Peace, requests the Ambassadors of the Four Powers <strong>in</strong><br />
Rome to represent <strong>Ethiopia</strong> <strong>in</strong> this matter and demand of the <strong>Italian</strong><br />
Government that they apprehend and surrender to officers of the Imperial