Chinese researchers say they have completed translating and compiling recordings of the Khabarovsk War Crimes Trials ahead of the 85th anniversary of the July 7 Incident that marked the beginning of Japan's full-scale invasion of China.

In 1949, 12 members of the Japanese Kwantung Army were tried as war criminals in the Russian Far Eastern city of Khabarovsk for manufacturing and using biological weapons and carrying out inhuman medical experiments during World War II.

The trial recordings, lasting 22 hours, 5 minutes and 57 seconds, contain contents concerning the transformation and organization of Unit 731, a covert biological and chemical warfare research and development unit of the Japanese Imperial Army, as well as the live human experiments, field toxicity tests, preparation and implementation of germ warfare by Unit 731.

From 1946 to November 1948, during the Tokyo Trial, the United States and Japan reached a secret deal, in which the United States obtained data on human experiments, bacteria experiments, germ warfare and gas experiments conducted by Unit 731 on the condition that the unit members were exempted from their war responsibilities. As a result, the Japanese germ war criminals escaped the Tokyo Trial.

According to Jiao Hongshuang, chief expert of the research team, the Soviet Union's repeated demand for the extradition of Japanese germ war criminals before December 1949 proved futile. As a result, Moscow conducted the Khabarovsk War Crimes Trials during December 25-30, 1949.

"The trials revealed for the first time the crimes of human experimentation and germ warfare committed by the Japanese army in northeast China during its invasion," Jiao said.

"The recordings also confirmed the establishment of the germ warfare system centered on Unit 731 was a top-down organized war crime committed by the Japanese state."

The research team was funded by the National Social Science Foundation.

On July 7, 1937, Japanese soldiers attacked Chinese forces at Lugou Bridge, marking the beginning of Japan's full-scale invasion of China. It became known as the July 7 Incident.