COPY GENERAL HEADQUARTERS SUPREME COMMANDER FOR THE ALLIED POWERS INTERNATIONAL PROSECUTION SECTION PHILIPPINE DIVISION 23 September 1946 MEMORANDUM to: Chief of Counsel FROM: Mr. Lopez SUBJECT: Trial of Remaining Major War Criminals I Source of nature of authority and responsibility 1. General Order No. 20, issued 8 December 1945, provides in paragraph 1 for the establishment of the International Prosecution Section ?Ç£as a Special Staff Section of this headquarters to prepare for trial and prosecute all cases involving crimes resulting from planning, preparation, initiation or waging of a war in violation of International treaties and agreements, or participation in a common plan or conspiracy for the accomplishment of any of the foregoing.?Ç¥ 2. The nature of the precise authority of the International Prosecution Section was clarified the next day by General Order No. 21, issued 9 December 1945, amending General Order No. 10 of 2 October 1945. That order limited the jurisdiction of the Legal Section to ?Ç£war crimes in categories other than the International aspect.?Ç¥ 3. The scope of the authority of the International Prosecution Section was subsequently broadened obliquely, however, with the drafting of the Charter of the The International Military Tribunal for the Far East on 19 January 1946. The Charter, which provides for the organization of the office of Chief of Counsel and Associate Prosecutors, vests in the Tribunal the additional power to try conventional war crimes which cover violations of the laws or customs of war, and crimes against humanity involving murder and other atrocities committed on the civilian population. (Art. 5, Section II, Charter). 4. Clearly deducible from the foregoing provisions is the dividing rule that war crimes with international aspect fall within the province of the International Prosecution Section