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TOKYO, April 19 (Xinhuanet) -- The Tokyo High Court
on Tuesday rejected compensation demand brought up by Chinese plaintiffs for
Japan's World War II atrocities, including germ war and massacre.
Turning down the appealing, the high court said in
its ruling that under international laws, the individual victims have no right
to seek compensation with a foreign country for damages inflicted by a foreign
military force.
In the previous ruling issued on September 1999, the
Tokyo District Court also rejected claims for damages, while recognizing the
facts raised by the plaintiffs.
The plaintiffs said they will appeal the ruling which
had no words about the atrocities.
Almost all the previous rulings over similar cases
denied claims for government compensations, given some did admit to the
plaintiffs' sufferings in Japan's invasion.
The 10 plaintiffs lodged the lawsuits in 1995, asking
the Japanese government to apologize and pay compensation for a seriesof
wrongdoings in the war, including the Nanking Massacre and the killing medical
experiments performed on Chinese by Japan's Unit 731 germ war troops.
Waving her fists on wheelchair, Guo Jinglan, 83,
bursted, "I'm determined to take care of myself and fight to the end." She and
her husband were arrested by Japanese troops in 1941 in northeastern
Heilongjiang Province on charge of conducting resistance activities. After grim
interrogation, her husband was sent to the Unit 731 and never returned.
"Only by recognizing the history, can Japan play a
role in the international community," said Yoshio Shinozaka, who testified
forthe plaintiffs as a former member of the Unit 731, "Although I'm 81 now, the
battle will be going on until the end of my life." Enditem |