Yamabe Oshimaro

Yamabe no Oshimaro
Native name	山部押麻呂
Born	(1919-11-30)November 30, 1919
Died	December 2, 2000(2000-12-02) (aged 81) 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／やまべのおしまろ, also Yamabe no Oshimaro, Nov. 30, 1919 – Dec. 2, 2000) was a Dayashinese soldier of the Pan-Septentrion War and author of several books relating to 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 (黎兆), GC to represent him. Chao Ree was a partner in Ree, Ree, and Ree (三黎士師所, sem-rii-dzrje-srjii-skrja’), one of Themiclesia's most distinguished criminal defence firms at the time.

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 demurred to all murder and assault charges as "acts prescribed by a foreign lord". That is, on the grounds that neither were Themiclesian soldiers on trial in foreign states for acts against them, so Yamabe ought not be tried for these actions. 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) when he was previously brought before a court for cheque fraud, he should be regarded and tried as a Themiclesian subject. Bjum Hwiar, barrister, argued on precedent that the failure to claim benefit does not form an acknowledgement of nationality. The Navy rejoined that Yamabe had joined the Marine Corps as a Themiclesian subject; however, Hwiar refuted that no law requires the Marine Corps's men to be Themiclesian, and his enlistment "certainly does not, legally, imply it." Hwiar further showed the court a long list of marines that were not Themiclesian subjects at enlistment, spanning 1410 – 1817, and 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 recently promoted an officer who died in 1244 posthumously "for valour", demonstrating that facts centuries ago are still within the Navy's purview. On Mar. 31, the Navy was ordered to produce counter-arguments; the prosecutors pled imparlance, which the court overruled then sustained the demurrer to murder and assault charges.

Desperate for information, the Navy ordered agents to monitor Yamabe for incriminating evidence. Ree anticipated this and stationed solicitors at Yamabe's side. On Apr. 7, the court in vacation, solicitor Mak Hmin staged a conversation with Yamabe (with his knowledge). When session resumed, the Navy presented the staged conversation as evidence, and Ree demanded the immediate imprisonment of the prosecutors for contempt and dismissal of the case with prejudice, for the "inexcusable litigative conduct of the prosecution". The court expelling the prosecution, Ree also sued for their disbarrment. The Bar was galvanized by Ree and voted to disbar the prosecutors. With new prosecutors, the Navy pushed for venire de novo, but Kung, barrister, argued the Navy was 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 and ordered the parties to join at issue.

The new prosecutor averred the Navy's "humiliation cannot be more complete" and that Ree's "abilities are already made famous", implying that Ree defended Yamabe for personal glory. Ree pushed for a third disbarrment on grounds of slander; however, the Bar was also growing weary of Ree's extremism and instead suspended 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 infiltrators. The Admiralty ordered the 4th Regiment to make themselves available for jury duty for the treason trial. The prosecution moved that a jury should be summoned from Yamabe's regiment, which was indignant at his actions; however, Ree instead expounded the issue was one of law, not of fact, which in the Exchequer results in a trial by bench. The judges agreed and directed the Navy to accept this mode of trial. The Navy was later proven to have schemed of using the regiment's rage to secure a conviction.

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 hmrjing to naturalize, even though he never formally petitioned to do so, as required. The defence countered that legal obligation is not a fact as such. They maintained that Yamabe did not owe allegiance when he surrendered, at best becoming stateless. The Navy then became concerned that Ree might make the argument all marines in the 4th and 5th Regiments that came to Themiclesia as prisoners were stateless. On May 15, parliament resumed sitting, and the Navy Secretary passed a bill to naturalize all members of the two regiments that were not yet naturalized. This did not retroactively apply to Yamabe, though his name was on the bill. 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 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, but each time he was released, his statements grew more extreme. The Navy thought his tactics amounted to a filibuster.

The prosecutors asked the Court not to remand the defendant to confinement, so his "treasonable" statements could be heard. Ree, in the pit, could not argue against his client's freedom. On Jun. 2, two marines of the 4th Regiment suddenly broke into the marshalsea in which Yamabe was held, apparently intending to assassinate Yamabe. Ree's solicitors were still with Yamabe and took a shot to the shoulder. The other testified that the two had spoken words indicating their intentions. Ree argued the Navy sent these assassins, then asked the case be immediately dismissed due to the conduct of the prosecuting party. The Navy's prosecutors stated that this was an intrusion and had nothing to do with them. The Court concurred with Ree, mindful of the prosecution's devious tactics, and dismissed the case with prejudice, acquitting Yamabe of treason and the public disorder charges that have already been confessed. The Navy requested permission to appeal the judgment, but the court refused it. It then discharged Yamabe and proposed to the Gwian Prefecture (where Yamabe lived) police to monitor Yamabe for future signs of criminal behaviour.

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