I’ve missed some previous context, not at all excusing those who commit crimes and perpetuate opressive regimes.
They should be prosecuted and taken to trial.
I don't think you've missed any context, it's just the discussion continuing on a tangent I guess. Anyway, the question is: how do you prosecute the people who perpetuate oppressive regimes? Even when Nazi Germany fell, all the people responsible were not prosecuted; there were simply far too many. The top people were, of course, but low-level police or whoever were not. But all those people, collectively, are part of the problem, which is my point. It's not just a few jerks at the top, it's all the other people below them who enable them (especially the police or other security services). Should all the cops be rounded up and shoved into the gas chambers for their crimes of complicity? I don't think the court system can realistically prosecute that many people, and a few of them probably did try in some ways to resist.