Yamabe Oshimaro

Yamabe no Oshimaro
Native name	山部押麻呂
Born	(1919-11-30)November 30, 1919
Died	December 2, 1999(1999-12-02) (aged 80) Nakaya, Dayashina
Buried	Onakata, Dayashina
Allegiance	Dayashina
Service	Imperial Dayashinese Army (cover) Imperial Special Operations Group (actual)
Years of service	1937 – 1960
Rank	Major
Battles/wars	Pan-Septentrion War
Spouse(s)	高町古真子 (Takamachi Komako, m. 1938)

Yamabe Oshimaro (Dayashinese 山部押麻呂, also Yamabe no Oshimaro, Nov. 30, 1919 – Dec. 2, 1999) was a Dayashinese soldier of the Pan-Septentrion War and author of several books relating to the it.

Acquittal and conviction

On Nov. 2, 1941, Yamabe was sent to the law side of the Royal Exchequer (中少內, trjung-stjawh-nups). The Themiclesian Navy, statutorily a vestigial agency of finance, committed all allegations of treason and felony for trial at this court, which is ordinarily concerned with disputes in excise, customs, and amercements. While the Navy possessed its own version of the court-martial, held by its captains and the naval tribunes, its jurisdiction did not extend to crimes committed by its members in domestic territory. As the court was in vacation, his capture reached the newspapers, prompting his financially well-off parents in Dayashina to retain serjeant-at-law Chao Ree, GC to represent him. Tsjao Ree was a partner in Ree, Ree, and Ree, one of Themiclesia's most distinguished criminal defence firms at the time.

Chao Ree arrived at the marshalsea of the Royal Exchequer on Nov. 9, where Yamabe greeted him coldly and complained there was hardly anything to eat. Ree, in each subsequent meeting, brought an entire roast beef for Yamabe. He was formally arraigned on Feb. 10, 1942 and stood indicted on 17 murder charges, 24 assault charges, and high treason. Ree led the defence, with Yamabe absent, prior to trial; on the 22nd, he and the 14 attorneys he led demurred to all murder and assault charges as "acts prescribed by a foreign liege". On the following day, the public disorder charges were confessed. On Mar. 5, Yamabe appeared in court for the first time and entered a not guilty plea to the treason charge. Themiclesian law required all charges to be answered before the court proceeded to decide demurrers. The court first focused on the question of Yamabe's legal allegiance.

The Navy's prosecutors argued that, since Yamabe did not claim the benefit of alien (the right of foreign subjects to be tried by the Foreign Office instead) when he was first brought before a court for cheque fraud on Jun. 18, 1941, he should be regarded as a subject of the Themiclesian crown and be tried as such. Bjum Hwiar, barrister under Ree, argued on precedent that the failure to claim benefit of alien does not equate an acknowledgement of naturalization. The Navy rejoined that Yamabe had joined the Marine Corps as a Themiclesian subject; however, Hwiar refuted that no law requires members of the Marine Corps to be Themiclesian, and his enlistment "certainly does not imply it or exists as affirmation with legal effect". Hwiar further showed the court a long list (92 names) of marines that were not Themiclesian subjects at the point of enlistment, spanning 1410 – 1817; when asked how he knew this, he showed a list of their subsequent enrollments in household records, years after enlistment. When the Navy argued these examples were obsolete, Hwiar said that the Navy posthumously promoted an officer who died in 1244 "for valour that must have happened before", which "outdates every example the defence has submitted to the bench in this case". The bench burst out in laughter. On Mar. 31, the bench ordered the Navy to produce counter-arguments to the demurrur; the prosecutors pled imparlance, which the court overruled then sustained the demurrer to all murder and assault charges.

The newspapers reported Ree's victory with great enthusiasm. Desperate for information, the Navy ordered special agents to inhabit the cells next to Yamabe for incriminating evidence. Ree anticipated this and stationed two solicitors at Yamabe's side day and night. On Apr. 7, the court again in vacation, solicitor Mak Hmin staged a conversation with Yamabe (with his knowledge) filled with invented information. When the court resumed session, the Navy presented the staged conversation as evidence, and Ree dramatically demanded the immediate imprisonment of the prosecutors for contempt of court and dismissal of the case with prejudice, for the "inexcusable litigative conduct of the prosecution", which the court refused. Ree also rushed for the prosecutors' disbarrment at the Bar, sening letters to the Bar's members to persuade them that "if such actions were tolerated, defence will be impossible". The Bar was galvanized by Ree and voted to disbar the prosecutors. The Navy then pushed for venire de novo, but Kung, barrister, argued the Navy were at fault and not entitled to a new trial. Kung further requested the indictment be "dismissed and for nothing utterly esteemed". The court overrued both.

The new Navy prosecutor began with an emotional appeal to Ree, that the Navy's "humiliation and degredation cannot be more complete" and that Ree's "abilities are known to the world over", implying that Ree only so vigorously defended Yamabe for personal glory. Unfazed, Ree pushed for a third disbarrment on account of slander; however, the Bar was also growing weary of Ree's extreme actions and did not disbar, but suspend, the new prosecutor. During Yamabe's trial, the 4th and 5th Regiments have started a vigorous campaign to identify infiltrators. The campaign is estimated to have killed as many loyalists as, if not more than, infiltrators. The Admiralty ordered all marines of the 4th Regiment to make themselves available for jury duty for when the treason trial begins. The prosecution argued that a jury should be summoned from Yamabe's regiment, which was known to be furious; however, Ree entered the defendant's waiver of trial by jury, which in the Exchequer results in a trial by bench. The Navy's scheme of using his former comrades' rage to secure a conviction was shattered. The leading prosecutor wrote in his diary, "Ree hopes the Bench [sic] would be more amenable to his legal reasoning, and he is quite correct. As it is his duty to put every resource at Yamabe's defence, so it is mine to face this awful, mighty adversary."

During the treason trial, the prosecution argued that Yamabe, no matter his nationality, owed allegiance to the Themiclesian crown after he had surrendered to the Themiclesian Army and accepted the purse of 600 mjen to naturalize, even though he never formally petitioned to be added to the Registry, like he was required to do. The defence countered this argument ineffectively but maintained that Yamabe did not owe allegiance to Themiclesia when he surrendered, at best becoming stateless. The Navy then became concerned that if the point was pressed, Ree might make the argument that all marines in the 4th and 5th Regiments who came to Themiclesia as prisoners were stateless. On May 1, the Council of Protonotaries resumed sitting, and the Navy Secretary passed a bill to naturalize all members of the two regiments that had not, yet, applied for naturalization. This did not retroactively apply to Yamabe's case, though his name was on the bill. Yamabe, however, was becoming restless, deprived of the chance to address the court. On May 18, during final statements, Yamabe asked to address the court personally. Ree gave him a very lengthy script that described him purely as a Dayashinese soldier, protected by the Eisenmaat Convention; he initially followed the script closely but soon deviated from it, inserting statements that disparaged the Emperor, his court, and the country's future generally. The Court stopped and imprisoned him several times for contempt, but each time he was released, his statements grew more extreme. According to the Navy, his tactics amounted to a filibuster that was made more effectual since the Court would not permit him to finish more than three or four sentences at once, thus dragging a ten-page speech out over weeks.

Ree could not prevent him from continuing in this vein but silently shook his head in the pit. The Navy asked the Court not to remand the defendant to confinement, so his treasonable statements could be heard in open court. On Jun. 2, two marines of the 4th Regiment suddenly appeared before the court, without the Admiralty's permission. Yamabe proudly declared that his fellow accomplices had arrived to put an end to this miserable proceeding, but one of the marines replied, "Yamabe, you are dead!" They aimed and shot at Yamabe with his handgun. Yamabe quickly ducked under the railings of the defendant's box; their shots ricochetted off the railings but did not hit. Meanwhile, Ree ordered two barristers to wade through the tighly packed pit and pull the carpet on which the two marines were standing, causing them to fall over and roll into the pit. Ree used his robe to tie the intruders against the railings of the pit and shouted at the court, "The Navy cannot deny they have sent assassins to violate the limits of this high and honour court and from it rob the judicial power." He then asked the case be immediately dismissed due to the conduct of the prosecuting party. The Navy's prosecutors screamed, allegedly with tears in their eyes, that this was an actual intrusion and had nothing to do with them. The Court, however, concurred with Ree, mindful of the prosecution's devious tactics before, and dismissed the case with prejudice, acquitting Yamabe of the charge of treason.