Japanese war criminal confession of torture published

BEIJING - A confession by Japanese war criminal Issaku Sugihara published on Saturday revealed that he supervised and commanded the torture and suppression of more than 30,000 Chinese, according to archives.

The written confession is the latest in a series published on the website of China's State Archives Administration (SAA) following denials of war crimes by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Japanese right-wing politicians.

According to Sugihara's written confession, before his capture in November 1945, he served as chief of the Ideology Section of the Criminal Division of the Ministry of Justice of the "Manchukuo" in May 1938, and became the director of the division in January 1945. "Manchukuo" was a puppet state in northeast China and Inner Mongolia.

From May 1938 to May 1939, about 300 Chinese were penalized or suppressed during his tenure as the chief of the Ideology Section.

From February to March 1941, a total of 175 guerrillas and residents in the counties of Zhaoyuan, Zhaozhou and Zhaodong were prosecuted under his direction. Of those people, 72 received the death penalty and 40 were sentenced to life imprisonment.

He admitted that "a significant number of people died between the time of arrest and the verdict," which he believed "was caused by poor living conditions in detention and torture during interrogation, such as police beatings."

From March to May 1943, he investigated and prosecuted "about 80" members of the Anti-Japanese and National Salvation Association and civilians, he said in the confession.

When he was the undersecretary of the High Procuratorate, "more than 30,000 people were tortured and suppressed," according to the confession.

This is the latest of a total of 45 Japanese war criminal confessions the SAA plans to publish. The SAA has been issuing one a day since July 3.