U.Va. Law Library preserves, posts war crimes docs

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Thousands of pages of documents, photos and other exhibits from the war crimes trial of 28 Japanese defendants have been digitally preserved and placed online by the University of Virginia Law Library.

The collection was donated by the family of 1927 U.Va. law school graduate Frank Tavenner Jr., one of the prosecutors in the trial of Japanese government and military leaders accused of plotting the start of World War II. The Military Tribunal for the Far East, commonly known as the Tokyo war crimes trial, ended in 1948 with death sentences for seven men and prison terms for the rest.