Japanese court awards damages to Chinese forced workers

The High Court of west Japan's Hiroshima Prefecture on Friday awarded damages in full to a group of Chinese who were forced to work in severe conditions at a construction site in the prefecture during World War II.

The high court overturned a July 2002 lower court ruling that rejected the lawsuit brought by Shao Yicheng, 78, and four other plaintiffs four years earlier against Nishimatsu Construction Co.,a construction firm based in Tokyo, Xin Meirong, head of a Chinese support group for the plaintiffs told Xinhua.

According to Xin, the ruling said the Nishimatsu's argument that the statute of limitations had expired on its violation of its obligation to ensure the safety of its workers seriously goes against the course of justice.

Forcibly taking people to Japan and making them work is a serious human rights violation, so bringing up the statute of limitations is an abuse of rights, the ruling said, referring to the 10-year statute of limitations.

The court awarded the plaintiffs, including bereaved families of the laborers, the amount they claimed of 5.5 million yen (about 50,000 US dollars) each -- 27.5 million yen in total -- when they filed the suit with the Hiroshima District Court in January 1998.

It is the first time that a Japan high court has ordered the defendant in a series of lawsuits involving forced laborers to pay damages to the plaintiffs, Xin said.

The decision also cuts down on the time it normally takes the courts to rule on postwar compensation lawsuits, he said, adding that as a result, it could influence the outcome of such lawsuits in future.

The ruling is the second to be made by a Japanese high court involving former Chinese forced laborers after the Fukuoka High Court in May overturned a lower court's decision and rejected the plaintiffs' compensation claims.

Besides the high court rulings, some eight rulings have been issued at Japan's district court levels so far on lawsuits filed by Chinese forced laborers with results varying wildly.

The Sapporo District Court, for instance, rejected a compensation demand on March 23, but three days later on March 26 the Niigata District Court ordered the state as well as a transport company to pay damages.

The plaintiffs were among some 3,000 people from Hebei and other Chinese provinces who were sent to work in mines across Japan from July 1943 and forced to work there until March 1945.