The war crimes trials of Japanese leaders after World War II. Between May 1946 and November 1948, 27 Japanese leaders appeared before an international tribunal charged with crimes ranging from murder and atrocities to responsibility for causing the war. Seven, including the former Prime Minister Tojo Hideki, were sentenced to death and 16 to life imprisonment (two others receiving shorter terms), but General MacArthur refused to allow the Emperor Hirohito to be tried for fear of undermining the post‐war Japanese state.