The reporting of war crimes on this website is authorized by Section 495(a), U.S. Army Field Manual 27-10, whereby the remedial action of "Publication of the facts, with a view to influencing public opinion against the offending [individuals]" is legally authorized under the laws of occupation. This website will be periodically updated by publicly identifying individuals, whether government or civilian, who committed a war crime and were reported to the United Nations Human Rights Council, Geneva, Switzerland.

Ambassador's Letter to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, November 11, 2012

War Crimes

Unable to procure a treaty of cession from the Hawaiian Kingdom government acquiring the Hawaiian Islands as required by international law, the U.S. Congress enacted a Joint Resolution, which was signed into law by President McKinley on July 7, 1898 during the Spanish-American War (30 U.S. Stat. 750) as a war measure. According to Black's Law Dictionary, 6th edition, a resolution is "a formal expression of the opinion or will of an official body or public assembly, adopted by vote; as a legislative resolution. Such may be either a simple, joint or concurrent resolution." Therefore, a joint resolution is not a ceding of territory by treaty, but only an opinion or will of the U.S. Congress. The Hawaiian Kingdom was not annexed to the United States and remained an independent, but occupied State.

Usurping Hawaiian sovereignty, U.S. President McKinley signed into United States law An Act To provide a government for the Territory of Hawai'i on April 30, 1900 (31 U.S. Stat. 141); and on March 18, 1959, U.S. President Eisenhower signed into United States law An Act To provide for the admission of the State of Hawai'i into the Union (73 U.S. Stat. 4). These laws not only have no extraterritorial effect, but stand in direct violation of the 1893 Lili`uokalani assignment and the Restoration Agreement, being international compacts, the 1907 Hague Convention, IV, and the 1949 Geneva Convention, IV.

At the close of World War I, the Commission on the Responsibility of the Authors of the War and on Enforcement of Penalties classified the following types of war crimes capable of being committed by military and civilians (American Journal of International Law, vol. 14, p. 114 (1920)):

1. Usurpation of sovereignty during occupation;
2. Deportation of civilians;
3. Compulsory enlistment of soldiers among the inhabitants of occupied territory;
4. Denationalizing the inhabitants of occupied territory;
5. Confiscation of property;
6. Exaction of illegitimate or of exorbitant contributions and requisitions;
7. Wanton devastation and destruction of religious, charitable, educational and historical buildings and monuments.

Usurpation of sovereignty is to illegally take by force the sovereignty of another country. International tribunals and national tribunals prosecuted both military and civilians after World War I and World War II for these war crimes. The State of Hawai'i government, established by an Act of Congress, is a usurpation of sovereignty during occupation and therefore not only illegal but also constitutes a war crime.

Article 147 of the Geneva Convention, IV also listed the following as war crimes:

1. Unlawful deportation or transfer or unlawful confinement of a protected person;
2. Compelling a protected person to serve in the forces of an occupying State;
3. Willfully depriving a protected person of the rights of fair and regular trial;
4. Extensive destruction and appropriation of property not justified by military necessity and carried out unlawfully.

Drawing from the Trial of Josef Altstotter and Others, the United Nations War Crimes Commission laid out the following as proof of the offense of a denial of a fair trial (Law Reports of Trials of War Criminals, United Nations War Crime Commission, vol. 6, p. 103 (1949)):

1. Denial of the right to know the charge against them, and this a reasonable time before the opening of trial;
2. Denial of the right to the full aid of counsel of their own choice, and sometimes no counsel at all was allowed to defend the accused;
3. Denial of the right to be tried by an unprejudiced judge;
4. Denial in whole or in part of the right to give or introduce evidence;
5. Denial of the right to know the evidence against them;
6. Denial of the general right to a hearing adequate for a full investigation of a case.

Field Manual 27-10

In the Trial of Sergeant-Major Shigeru Ohashi and Six Others, the Judge Advocate in setting out the rules which the Court was to observe stated, "United States Basic Field Manual F.M. 27-10 (Rules of Land Warfare), though not a source of law like a statute, prerogative order or decision of a court, is a very authoritative publication." (Law Reports of Trials of War Criminals, United Nations War Crime Commission, vol. 5, p. 27 (1949)). "The rules which govern the armed forces of the United States are set forth in the War Department's Basic Field Manual 27-10. Rules of Land Warfare. While the Hague rules apply legally only to enemy territory, as a matter of policy they are generally applied to other territories occupied by United States forces." (Law of Belligerent Occupation, J.A.G.S. Text No. 11, p. 6, footnote 13.)

Section 495—Remedies of Injured. In the event of violation of the law of war, the injured party may legally resort to remedial action of the following types:

1. Publication of the facts, with a view to influencing public opinion against the offending [individuals];
2. Protest and demand for compensation and/or punishment of the individual offenders. Such communications may be sent through the protecting power, a humanitarian organization performing the duties of a protecting power, or a neutral state, or by parlementaire direct to the commander of the offending forces. Article 3, H. IV, provides in this respect: A belligerent party which violates the provisions of the said Regulations shall, if the case demands, be liable to pay compensation. It shall be responsible for all acts committed by persons forming part of its armed forces.
3. Solicitation of the good offices, mediation, or intervention of neutral States for the purpose of making the enemy observe the law of war.

Section 358—Occupation Does Not Transfer Sovereignty. Being an incident of war, military occupation confers upon the invading force the means of exercising control for the period of occupation. It does not transfer the sovereignty to the occupant, but simply the authority or power to exercise some of the rights of sovereignty. The exercise of these rights results from the established power of the occupant and from the necessity of maintaining law and order, indispensable both to the inhabitants and to the occupying force. It is therefore unlawful for a belligerent occupant to annex occupied territory or to create a new State therein while hostilities are still in progress.

Section 362—Necessity for Military Government. Military government is the form of administration by which an occupying power exercises governmental authority over occupied territory. The necessity for such government arises from the failure or inability of the legitimate government to exercise its functions on account of the military occupation, or the undesirability of allowing it to do so.

Section 499—War Crimes. The term "war crime" is the technical expression for a violation of the law of war by any person or persons, military or civilian. Every violation of the law of war is a war crime.

Section 509—Defense of Superior Orders. The fact that the law of war has been violated pursuant to an order of a superior authority, whether military or civil, does not deprive the act in question of its character of a war crime, nor does it constitute a defense in the trial of an accused individual, unless he did not know and could not reasonably have been expected to know that the act ordered was unlawful. In all cases where the order is held not to constitute a defense to an allegation of war crime, the fact that the individual was acting pursuant to orders maybe considered in mitigation of punishment.

Section 510—Government Officials. The fact that a person who committed an act which constitutes a war crime acted as the head of a State or as a responsible government official does not relieve him from responsibility for his act.

War Crimes Reported

• On August 20, 2012, Judge Glenn S. Hara, Circuit Court of the Third Circuit, State of Hawai'i, was reported to the United Nations Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Human Rights Council Branch-Complaint Procedure Unit, Geneva, Switzerland, for war crimes.
  • War Crime. Willfully depriving a person a fair and regular trial (Article 147, 1949 Geneva Convention, IV; also Article 14(1), 1966 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights).
  • War Crime Victim. Elaine E. Kawasaki
  • Court proceeding—Docket number: 3CC 11-1-0106 (GSH)
  
  
• On August 20, 2012, Judge Leslie E. Kobayashi, United States District Court for the District of Hawai'i, was reported to the United Nations Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Human Rights Council Branch-Complaint Procedure Unit, Geneva, Switzerland, for war crimes.
  • War Crime. Willfully depriving a person a fair and regular trial (Article 147, 1949 Geneva Convention, IV; also Article 14(1), 1966 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights).
  • War Crime Victim. Francis E. Chandler, III
  • Court proceeding—Docket number: CR. NO. 10-00134 LEK
  
  
• On August 20, 2012, Judge Greg Nakamura, Circuit Court of the Third Circuit, State of Hawai'i, was reported to the United Nations Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Human Rights Council Branch-Complaint Procedure Unit, Geneva, Switzerland, for war crimes.
  • War Crime. Willfully depriving a person a fair and regular trial (Article 147, 1949 Geneva Convention, IV; also Article 14(1), 1966 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights).
  • War Crime Victim. Harris Bright
  • Court proceeding—Docket number: 3CC 11-1-0389
  
  
  • War Crime. Willfully depriving a person a fair and regular trial (Article 147, 1949 Geneva Convention, IV; also Article 14(1), 1966 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights).
  • War Crime Victim. Kale Kepekaio Gumapac
  • Court proceeding—Docket number: 3CC 11-1-0590
  
  
  • War Crime. Willfully depriving a person a fair and regular trial (Article 147, 1949 Geneva Convention, IV; also Article 14(1), 1966 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights).
  • War Crime Victim. Samson Okapua Kamakea, Sr. & Talia Pomaikai Kamakea, husband and wife
  • Court proceeding—Docket number: 3CC 11-1-0234
  
  
• On August 20, 2012, Judge Barbara T. Takase, District Court of the Third Circuit, State of Hawai'i, was reported to the United Nations Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Human Rights Council Branch-Complaint Procedure Unit, Geneva, Switzerland, for war crimes.
  • War Crime. Willfully depriving a person a fair and regular trial (Article 147, 1949 Geneva Convention, IV; also Article 14(1), 1966 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights).
  • War Crime Victims. Landish K. and Robin R. Armitage, husband and wife
  • Court proceeding—Docket number: 3RC 11-1-1142