The Khabarovsk war crimes trials were the Soviet hearings of twelve Japanese Kwantung Army officers and medical staff charged with the manufacture and use of biological weapons, and human experimentation, during World War II. The war crimes trials were held between 25 and 31 December 1949 in the Soviet industrial city of Khabarovsk (Хабаровск), the largest in the Russian Far East. All twelve defendants pleaded guilty and were sentenced to prison terms ranging from two to twenty-five years, to be served in Siberian labour camps. In 1956, those still serving their sentences were released and repatriated to Japan. It is speculated that the Soviets cut deals with Unit 731 in exchange for their research. However, instead of giving the suspects complete immunity, the Soviets instead traded the research for lenient sentences. History During the trials, the accused, including Major General Kiyoshi Kawashima, testified that as early as 1941, some 40 members of Unit 731 air-dropped plague-contaminated fleas on Changde, China, causing epidemic plague outbreaks. Judges found all twelve accused war criminals guilty, sentencing them to terms ranging from two to twenty-five years in labour camps. In 1956, those still serving their sentences were released and repatriated to Japan. In 1950, the Soviet Union published official trial materials in English, titled Materials on the Trial of Former Servicemen of the Japanese Army Charged with Manufacturing and Employing Bacteriological Weapons. These included documents from the preliminary investigation (the indictment, some of the documentary evidence, and some interrogation records), testimony from both the accused and witnesses, final pleas of the accused, some expert findings, and speeches from the state prosecutor and defense counsel, verbatim. Published by state-run Foreign Languages Publishing House, the Soviet publication has long been out of print. But in November 2015, Google Books determined it was now in the public domain and published a facsimile of it online, also offering it for sale as an ebook. Trial controversies Speaking to the overall judicial integrity of the proceedings, bioethics expert Jing-Bao Nie said the following: Despite its strong ideological tone and many obvious shortcomings such as the lack of international participation, the trial established beyond reasonable doubt that the Japanese army had prepared and deployed bacteriological weapons and that Japanese researchers had conducted cruel experiments on living human beings. However, the trial, together with the evidence presented to the court and its major findings—which have proved remarkably accurate—was dismissed as communist