M34
Morotai Trial M34 was an Australian war crimes trial conducted on Morotai on 7 February 1946. The case concerned the alleged ill-treatment of Royal Australian Air Force airman Stevenson while he was a prisoner of war in Japanese custody. Captain Murakami Hiroshi of the Japanese Naval Police was charged in connection with the incident.
The prosecution alleged that Stevenson had been subjected to an electric shock during his captivity. The court initially convicted Captain Murakami and imposed a sentence of six months' imprisonment. On review, however, the Judge Advocate General concluded that the evidence did not establish ill-treatment of sufficient gravity to constitute a war crime. The review noted that Stevenson had suffered no permanent injury from the incident and later died from malaria rather than the effects of the electric shock. The Judge Advocate General therefore recommended that the conviction should not be confirmed. This page summarises the trial, the evidence, the Judge Advocate General's review and the surviving archival records.
List of accused
MURAKAMI/HIROSHI
Initially sentenced to six months imprisonment.
JAG - There is no evidence that the PW suffered any ill effects of a permanent nature from the electric shock - it would appear to have been very similar to what years ago was common at bazaars when people attempt to take money out of a basin of water mildly electrified. There is evidence the PW died in April from malaria.
The electrification incident is not sufficient to bring it up to the necessary standard of ill treatment for trial as a war crime and should not be confirmed.