Posthumous trial

A posthumous trial or post-mortem trial is a trial held after the defendant's death. Posthumous trials can be held for a variety of reasons, including the legal declaration that the defendant was the one who committed the crime, to provide justice for society or family members of the victims, or to exonerate a wrongfully convicted person after their death. Due to the heavy cost, they are usually held only under extraordinary circumstances.

Notable posthumous trials

• Cadaver Synod of Pope Formosus
• Farinata degli Uberti
• Pope Boniface VIII
• Retrial of Joan of Arc, overturned her earlier heresy conviction.
• Francesco Maria Carafa, resulting in exoneration.
• The Wanli Emperor, seized and denounced by Beijing's Red Guards in 1966.
• Wu Xun
• Henry Plummer, resulting in a mistrial.
• Sergei Magnitsky
• Saint Genevieve

See also

• Kangaroo court
• Trial in absentia
• Declared death in absentia
• Show trial