Pochta 70 Anniversary of the Nuremberg International MilitaryTribunal

POCHTA (Russia Post) issued a souvenir sheet on 14 December 2016 marking the 70 anniversary of the International Military Tribunal (IMT) in Nuremberg, Germany. The postage stamp in the centre depicts the courtroom where the Nuremberg tribunals were conducted. In the margins of the souvenir sheet are photos of Soviet Member of the Tribunal Iona Nikitchenko and Soviet Chief Prosecutor Roman Rudenko. Additionally,  the courthouse in Nuremberg, the flags of the four WWII allies and documents from the proceedings are featured. The first day cancellation postmark originated from Moscow.

On 8 August 1945, France, the Soviet Union, United Kingdom and United States  held a  Conference in London. They agreed to try axis military and auxiliary personnel for war crimes and crimes against humanity. 

Between 20 November 1945 and 1 October 1946, the International Military Tribunal (IMT) tried 21 of the most important surviving leaders of Nazi Germany in the political, military, and economic spheres, as well as six German organisations. The purpose of the trial was not just to convict the defendants but also to assemble irrefutable evidence of Nazi crimes, offer a history lesson to the defeated Germans, and delegitimise the traditional German elite. 

The IMT focused on the crime of aggression—plotting and waging aggressive war, which the verdict declared "the supreme international crime" because "it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole". Most of the defendants were also charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity. Twelve further trials were conducted by the United States against lower-level perpetrators, which focused more on the Holocaust. Although controversial at the time for their use of ex post facto law, the trials' innovation of holding individuals responsible for violations of international law established international criminal law.