JAPANESE historian Hirofumi Hayashi has shed new light on 919 Japanese tried as war criminals by the British Army in Southeast Asian countries including Hong Kong, after World War II.
After studying documents in British archives, Mr Hayashi said 279 had been sentenced to death, 55 given life prison terms and 107 acquitted.
The Sunday Morning Post's examination of Hong Kong military documents held at Kew, West London, revealed at least 117 Japanese were tried and some executed in a series of war crimes trials held in Hong Kong after liberation.
The trials ran from May 1946 until March 1949, and Japanese prisoners found guilty of atrocities were hanged at Stanley Prison.
Thousands of documents at the British Public Records Office at Kew reveal accounts of military trials held across the territory.
A military defence lawyer was assigned to each accused; many cases were hard-fought and some were acquitted.
