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Japan court rejects claims of Chinese victims
(AP)
Updated: 2006-03-10 15:58
TOKYO -- A Japanese court dismissed a compensation claim filed by a
group of Chinese who were forced to work on construction projects in Japan
during World War II, saying the deadline for filing such cases had passed, a
court official said Friday.
The Nagano District Court in central Japan
threw out the plaintiffs' demand for a total of 140 million yen (US$1.18
million; euro1 million) in damages from the state and four construction
companies, according to court official Michiko Koike.
The court said the
government and companies had committed an illegal act by bringing the Chinese to
Japan against their will and forcing them to work, but the deadline for filing
compensation claims _ usually 20 years under Japanese law _ had expired,
according to a summary of the ruling.
The plaintiffs - three former
Chinese laborers and the relatives of four deceased workers - were taken from
China to Nagano to build hydroelectric power plants during the war, the court
said.
The court also dismissed the plaintiffs' demand for an apology to
be published in newspapers.
The four construction companies are Kajima
Corp., Kumagai Gumi Co., Taisei Corp. and Tobishima Corp.
Japan has
generally refused to pay damages to individuals despite accusations that it has
not fully atoned for its wartime brutality. Officials claim that the issue was
settled on a government-to-government basis in postwar treaties.
In
2004, a high court reversed a landmark lower court ruling ordering the
government to pay compensation to the relatives of a Chinese man forced to work
for the Japanese military, saying the current government isn't accountable for
wrongs committed by the country's wartime leaders.
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