ORANGE, Calif., Nov. 1, 2009 -- Dr. Wolfgang Form, director of the War Crimes Documentation Center at the University of Marburg, Germany, will speak Wednesday at 11:30 a.m. on "Charging Waterboarding as a War Crime: U.S. War Crime Trials in the Far East after World War II" at Kennedy Hall, Room 237. Admission is free and open to the public.

Dr. Form will discuss a little-known chapter of U.S. military justice and the implications for today of the verdicts issued at these military trials. Shortly after the surrender of Japan, Allied policy directives provided for trials and punishment of war criminals in the Pacific. The defendants at these military commission trials were charged with committing torture, including what was then called “water torture.”

Japan’s use of water torture was extremely common. Many Japanese were convicted for using water torture against U.S. and other Allied POWs. American judges at these military commissions or convening officers roundly condemned the practice as it was applied to American servicemen. The sentences for ill-treatment imposed on the Japanese defendants were often harsh, up to and including hanging or death by firing squad.

For more information, call 714-628-2687.