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1Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems2Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches3Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsTen Japanese guards were tried in Singapore from 21 January to 1 February 1946 over the treatment of 520 Indian prisoners of war at a camp on Peleliu, in Palau. The National Library Board’s account reports that 118 prisoners died. The trial was held in Singapore, but the alleged crimes took place on Peleliu.
What happened in the Peleliu case?
The defendants were ten Japanese guards accused of ill-treating Indian prisoners held at a prisoner-of-war camp on Peleliu, an island in Palau. The National Library Board’s 2016 account identifies 520 prisoners under the guards’ charge and reports 118 deaths. It also says one prisoner was beheaded. The trial ran from 21 January to 1 February 1946. National Library Board, “War Crimes Trials in Singapore”.
What did the court decide?
According to the National Library Board account, Lieutenant Nakamura Kaniyaki was sentenced to death for the beheading. Seven other defendants received prison sentences ranging from two to twelve years, and two were acquitted. These are the outcomes reported in that account; the complete primary transcript for this proceeding is not established by the available records.
Why was the trial held in Singapore?
Singapore was the venue, not the location of the alleged offences. The National Library Board says Singapore’s war-crimes trials were held at the Supreme Court building on St Andrew’s Road. Lieutenant Colonel Leon George Coleman presided over this first trial and several other Singapore proceedings in 1946. National Library Board, “War Crimes Trials in Singapore”.
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The Peleliu proceeding belonged to a wider set of postwar Allied trials conducted in Singapore. The National Library Board counts 131 trials between 21 January 1946 and 12 March 1948. That total describes the Singapore proceedings collectively, not just cases involving Indian prisoners or crimes committed on Peleliu.
Other Singapore cases involved different victims and locations
Singapore’s tribunals heard cases concerning alleged crimes committed elsewhere in the region. Those proceedings should not be conflated with the Peleliu case:
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- Andaman and Nicobar Islands, April 1946: A separate case summary concerns Kojima Hisajiro and Asai Kenichi over the deaths of two Indonesian civilian labourers. The victims were civilians, not Indian POWs. Singapore War Crimes Trials portal, case summary.
- Singapore tribunal, 8 August–16 September 1946: The National Archives of Singapore catalogue describes an Australian National Archives file for a separate tribunal, including a transcript, defence closing address, findings and verdict. It concerns different defendants and is not the Peleliu proceeding. National Archives of Singapore catalogue.
- New Britain case, February 1947: A digitized military-court form for Lieutenant Kondo Takeyoshi concerns a separate Singapore trial over ill-treatment of Indian POWs in New Britain. The form’s OCR-rendered text reports a not-guilty finding. It does not record the outcome of the Peleliu trial. Digitized military-court form for Lieutenant Kondo Takeyoshi.
What the surviving accounts establish
The National Library Board’s 2016 article supplies the central case’s dates, the reported number of prisoners and deaths, the defendants’ reported sentences, and the Singapore venue. The archival catalogue and digitized form illustrate records from other Singapore tribunals, but they do not fill in the complete primary transcript for the Peleliu case. The account therefore supports a focused outline of the proceeding and its reported outcome, rather than a detailed reconstruction of testimony or courtroom argument.
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