# Anyone ever found innocent in a war crimes trial? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 29, 2001, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-ever-found-innocent-in-a-war-crimes-trial/70601 "2001-06-29T12:18:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![evilhanz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba8739/32.png) [@evilhanz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/evilhanz)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2001, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-ever-found-innocent-in-a-war-crimes-trial/70601/1 "2001-06-29T12:18:54Z")
Has anyone ever been found innocent _of all charges_ in a war crimes trial? I’ve heard of some Yugoslavs like Jelisic and Kordic who were found innocent of some charges, but guilty or others, but none who were found innocent outright and released. Also, what kind of evidenciary standards are applied before someone can be brought to trial? Are they more or less stringent than those of Western courts, i.e. US? I would suspect that the standards are set much higher considering the nature of the crimes and the apparently high conviction rate, but I can’t find any hard info. ---
**Author:** ![kingpengvin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9dc877/32.png) [@kingpengvin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kingpengvin)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2001, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-ever-found-innocent-in-a-war-crimes-trial/70601/2 "2001-06-29T12:42:37Z")
There were a few aquitals in the group of 21 first tried Franz von Papen Vice Chancellor and later Ambassador in Vienna Hjalmar Schacht Hans Fritzsche a radio broadcaster working with the Ministry of Propaganda ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2001, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-ever-found-innocent-in-a-war-crimes-trial/70601/3 "2001-06-29T12:53:34Z")
Well, you may recall the case of John Demjanjuk, a Ukrainina immigrant who was deported to Israel, on charges that he was “Ivan the Terrible,” a notorious Nazi war criminal. He was eventually acquitted by the Israeli Supreme Court- AFTER his U.S. citizenship had been stripped away. Mind you, the Israeli Supreme Court did NOT say that Mr. Demjanjuk was an innocent angel- he SEEMS to have lied and distorted facts about his background when he first came to America, and MAY have done some awful things we don’t know about (and he refuses to talk about). However, it became clear that Mr. Demjanjuk was NOT the man he was accused of being. ---
**Author:** ![Halfpint](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/f0a364/32.png) [@Halfpint](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Halfpint)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2001, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-ever-found-innocent-in-a-war-crimes-trial/70601/4 "2001-06-29T18:51:57Z")
Two of the accused in the war crimes trials relating to the former Yugoslavia have been acquitted - but whether the charges were dropped due to lack of evidence, or they were found ‘Not Guilty’, I don’t know. ---
**Author:** ![SmackFu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@SmackFu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmackFu)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2001, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-ever-found-innocent-in-a-war-crimes-trial/70601/5 "2001-06-29T19:38:59Z")
To expand on **kingpenvin** ’s answer… [This page](http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/nuremberg/NurembergIndictments.html) has the full results from the first Nurember trial: > [@](#): > > Hanz Fritzsche: The tribunal found, however, that he did not hold any positions that gave him control over the decisions to wage war or the crimes against humanity, and he was therefor acquitted of all charges. > > Hjalmar Schacht: Although he continued to participate in economic decisions, he was not involved in any of the war plans. For this reason he was acquitted of all crimes. > > Franz von Papen: Although Von Popen held positions in the Reich, there is not enough evidence that he was part of the plans to wage war. He was therefor acquitted. To the 2nd part of the OP, that page also says: > [@](#): > > ARTICLE 19 > > The Tribunal shall not be bound by technical rules of evidence. It shall adopt and apply to the greatest possible extent expeditious and nontechnical procedure, and shall admit any evidence which it deems to have probative value… ---
**Author:** ![HubZilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ccd318/32.png) [@HubZilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HubZilla)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2001, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-ever-found-innocent-in-a-war-crimes-trial/70601/6 "2001-06-29T20:13:12Z")
Has anyone on the “winning” side ever been convicted of war crimes? ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2001, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-ever-found-innocent-in-a-war-crimes-trial/70601/7 "2001-06-29T23:51:27Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by HubZilla \* > \*\* > Has anyone on the “winning” side ever been convicted of war crimes? \*\* Not that I’m aware of, but some NATO generals _should_ be in prison now. For example, the guys who decided to start firing Tomahawk cruise missles at civilian targets in Yugoslavia. Can you say “V-2”? How about “terror bombing of civilians”? In WW2, the British general who started indiscriminate firebombing of German cities was passed over for a peerage after the war, but almost every other British general got one.