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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World

The Nuremberg trials and the world’s judgment on Putin

Vladimir Putin at a meeting in the Kremlin
Vladimir Putin at a recent meeting in the Kremlin. Photograph: Mikhail Klimentyev/AP

John Kampfner’s perceptive piece on the postwar Nazi trials (If we want Vladimir Putin brought to justice, Nuremberg has much to teach us, 10 April) omitted one element – that the Soviets had to be dragged, screaming and shouting, into the Nuremberg approach. Specific charges, the production and testing of evidence (by cross-examination), the provision of defence lawyers and independent judicial decision were alien to them – as brilliantly documented by Francine Hirsch in Soviet Judgment at Nuremberg. No wonder Vladimir Putin will never willingly succumb to independent international judgment.
Dianne Hayter
Labour, House of Lords

• John Kampfner says the Nuremberg trials set a benchmark “for rigour and fairness in dealing with the vanquished of war”. But can there really be fairness if the crimes of the victorious are not also dealt with?
Maureen Jack
St Andrews, Fife

• Have an opinion on anything you’ve read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our letters section.

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