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62, now private lawyer, from 1944 until 1 Dec 45, was prosecutor in the Army higher general court, the Chief of which was the Minister of War. In April 1945, Suzuki became Lt. Gen. The court was set up for trials of General Officers. The court was dissolved 18 May 1945. At one time Suzuki was assigned as Chief of the Legal Section of the First General, the Eastern Area, the Air Force General, First Air Force and 6th Air Force Armies, all of Tokyo Area Army Hq. In the fall of 1945, he was investigator and prosecutor vs. Col. Tamura, accused of war crimes Vs. British Prisoners of War. On 1 December 45, until 18 May 1945, Suzuki was prosecutor for the First Demobilization Higher General Court.
In late January 1946, Suzuki was sent by order of the Demobilization Minister, to investigate WA Hq case, remained about 12 days. A report from WA Hq had been received giving the names of Sato, Wako, Fukushima, Tomomori and Ito, as warranting war crimes investigation, as to murder of captured enemy airmen. Suzuki heard that Oki wrote this report in the name of the Chief of the Western Demobilization Bureau, Nishihara.
On arrival, Suzuki went to Oki, who said that we would tell him absolutely nothing, since he didn't want him prejudiced, altho Suzuki had hoped he would give him the details, told him that he had hoped for cooperation. When Suzuki had Oki call in witnesses, the witnesses would often be late, would explain that they were ordered to report first to Oki, who also told them to report back to him. Because he felt that if he were conducting the investigation on a stage, he left.
The junior Officers were more cooperative than the higher Officers, such as Yokoymama & Inada; Tomomori told Suzuki he was only a sightseer at the 12 Aug execution. Ito told Suzuki that he had no previous knowledge of the 20 June execution, went only on noticing a large crowd, that Wako was quite independent of him and didn't here consult him.
Suzuki reported Oki's lack of cooperation to Oyama, Chief of the Legal Bureau, who said he sent a letter to caution to Oki.
On Suzuki's second trip, in late March, Inada told him he had ordered Oki to tell him everything about the case, was sorry he was angry. Between trips Suzuki arranged to have Lt. Gen. Fujii former Legal section Chief, act as head of a commission to try the WA case. He had planned to interview Sato in Tokyo, since he appeared to be hiding from the other Officers in Fukuoka, could never be located, but he didn't come up. Suzuki believes Sato was under suspicion since it was known he had reported at the Beppu CIC, suggested to Suzuki that he check their info.
Suzuki on his second Fukoka trip, was there from early to late March 1946, returned because he could not straighten out the stories of Yokoyama and Sato, wanted to interrogate Wako, but he was in Shanghai. At the time, he was told that the Japs would stop trying war crimes, and Suzuki wrote a report as to the results of his investigation and a statement as to his opinion directed to the Demob Minister.
Suzuki did go to the Beppu CIC early in March, on his second visist, was gone 3 days, who apparently had the same document he had, told Inada about it later just prior to returning to Tokyo, who said the CIC had the report they had sent them, added that the Beppu CIC had nothing to do with the case. Ikawa formerly a subordinate of Suzuki and a member of the Legal Section of Oki, told Suzuki that he could not come to see him because Oki would be angered.
Suzuki heard nothing of the KIU case in his investigations. Suzuki did learn that 8 flyers were killed 20 June 1945, 8 on 12 August, about 15 on 15 August. In late March, Oki handed Suzuki some notes which he said might prove of value, but Suzuki returned them without looking at them.
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