A ruling that Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's visit to a war criminal shrine is unconstitutional is expected to come into effect after midnight Thursday as both the plaintiffs and defendants did not appeal against it.

It is the first time a ruling of this kind has been establishedregarding the unconstitutionality of the premier's trip to the shrine. The deadline for an appeal was initially set for Wednesday,but was moved to Thursday since the premier received the verdict one day late.

In the ruling on April 7, the Fukuoka District Court said Koizumi's visit to the Yasukuni Shrine in 2001 falls under religious activity that the state is banned from participating in under Japan's constitution. Koizumi visited the shrine as a premier.

The court, however, rejected demand for compensation, ruling itcannot say the visit violated their freedom of conscience.

The plaintiffs have said they would not to appeal against the ruling because the suit had fulfilled their goal.

The state and premier have also decided not to appeal, given that the damages claims by the plaintiffs were dismissed.

Yasukuni Shrine honors 14 Class-A World War II criminals along with about 2 million Japanese war dead since the mid-19th century.Koizumi has made four visits as premier since he took office in 2001, with the latest one on the first day of this year. He reiterated his determination last month to continue the visit, saying he did not feeling uncomfortable for the behavior.

The visits have drawn indignation and protests from Asian countries, including China, that suffered from Japan's atrocity inthat war.

Source: Xinhua