Overview
- The International Military Tribunal opened on 20 November 1945 in Nuremberg and ultimately encompassed 13 trials with more than 200 Nazi defendants.
- The court was created by the Allied powers under the London Four‑Power Agreement, marking the first time four different systems tried top political and military leaders together.
- Nuremberg established individual criminal responsibility for crimes against peace, war crimes and crimes against humanity, with the main trial ending in 12 death sentences, 7 prison terms and 3 acquittals.
- Its legal legacy led to the 1990s ad‑hoc tribunals and the ICC, which began work in 2002, though major states including the United States, Russia, China and Syria are not members.
- Germany’s 2002 Völkerstrafgesetzbuch enables universal‑jurisdiction prosecutions, exemplified by a 2022 life sentence in Koblenz for a former Syrian official and a current Koblenz case alleging the starvation of civilians.