War crimes trials are mostly political rather than just.
I remember that Japanese General Tomoyuki Yamashita was ordered executed despite the fact that he had ordered his troops to not commit the acts of brutality which they did.
I think McArthur said his crime was not keeping control of his men. The odd thing about Japanese soldiers and officers is they often disobeyed their commanders orders, doing things which would never have been allowed in American or German armies.
I have read that they would often choose to commit suicide rather than retreat when ordered to do so.
One of the most preposterous and hypocritical aspects of the postwar showtrials trials, aside from the fact that they were held and the Soviets’ participation, was his they condemned Germans for supposedly waging aggressive and preemptive war against Norway. The Nazis invaded it because the British were planning on invading it to cut off supplies and they wanted to forestall that eventuality. The British knew this to be true, and knew they had gone so far as to mine harbors prior to German invasion.
But Nazis were deprived of this defense, which was perfectly sound since you’ll notice no charges were made concerning “strategic” bombing. That’s because and only because the Brits started it. The purpose of showtrials would be defeated if everyone knew the allies got away with the selfsame actions that condemned people on the losing side.
So they set the rules of evidence, which were that whatever damaging to the defense would be presented and everything else would not. The defeated knew the British planned an invasion of Norway, but not being privy to what evidence existed could not prevail upon it in court. Even if they did know where lay the evidence, the court wouldn’t have allowed it.
There were exceptions, as when witnesses fell into defendants’ laps. It’s harder to squash a living person who can go to the press. But mostly it was, “Come again? What invasion plan? I know nothing of which you speak, sir.” Unfortunately for them ultimately the truth came out.