High Treason Incident

The High Treason Incident (大逆事件, Taigyaku Jiken), also known as the Kotoku Incident (幸徳事件, Kōtoku Jiken), was a socialist-anarchist plot to assassinate the Japanese Emperor Meiji in 1910, leading to a mass arrest of leftists, and the execution of 12 alleged conspirators in 1911.

Investigation

On 20 May 1910, the police searched the room of Miyashita Takichi (1875-1911), a young lumbermill employee in Nagano Prefecture, and found materials which could be used to construct bombs. Investigating further, the police arrested his accomplices, Nitta Toru (1880-1911), Niimura Tadao (1887-1911), Furukawa Rikisaku (1884-1911) and Kōtoku Shūsui and his former common-law wife, feminist author Kanno Suga. Upon questioning, the police discovered what the prosecutor's office regarded as a nationwide conspiracy against the Japanese monarchy.

In the subsequent investigation, many known leftists and suspected sympathizers were brought in for questioning around the country. Eventually, 25 men and one woman were brought to trial on the charge of violation of Article 73 of the Criminal Code (harming or intending harm to the Emperor or member of the imperial family). Four of those arrested were Buddhist monks. The case was tried in a closed court, and the prosecutor was Hiranuma Kiichirō.

High treason

Treason is criminal disloyalty. Historically, in common law countries, high treason is treason against the state. It was differentiated from petty treason (or petit treason), which was treason against a lawful superior (such as a servant killing his master). Petty treason was restricted to cases of homicide in 1351, and came to be considered a more serious degree of murder.

As common law jurisdictions around the world abolished petty treason, the concept of high treason gradually faded, and today use of the word "treason" generally refers to what was historically known as high treason. In Canadian law, however, there are still two separate offences of treason and high treason, but both of these, in fact, fall in the historical category of high treason. In Canada, the main difference in law between treason and high treason depends on whether the nation is at war. In nations without a common law legal system, the distinction between high and petty treason did not exist.

High Treason (1951 film)

High Treason is a 1951 British espionage thriller filmed in the style of such American "docudramas" as The House on 92nd Street and T-Men. It is a sequel to the Oscar-winning 1950 film Seven Days to Noon. Director Roy Boulting, co-director (with his brother John) and co-writer of the first film also directed and co-wrote this one.Frank Harvey, Boulting's co-writer, was also a co-writer of the earlier film. André Morell reprises his role as Detective Superintendent Folland of Scotland Yard's Special Branch from the first film, though in High Treason he is subordinate to the head of Special Branch, Commander Robert "Robbie" Brennan, played by Liam Redmond.

Plot

Enemy saboteurs infiltrate the industrial suburbs of London, intending to disable power generating stations in London and throughout the U.K. Their motivation is to cripple the British economy and enable subversive forces to insinuate themselves in the government. The saboteurs are thwarted not by the traditional counterintelligence agents but by workaday London police officers.

High Treason (1929 German film)

High Treason (German:Hochverrat) is a 1929 German silent drama film directed by Johannes Meyer and starring Gerda Maurus, Gustav Fröhlich and Harry Hardt. The film is set in pre-Revolution Russia. Maurus' performance was contrasted favourably with her appearance in Fritz Lang's Woman in the Moon by the magazine Film und Volk. The film's art direction was by Willi Herrmann.

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