All social strata from northeast China's Liaoning province protest a Japanese court's rejection on a damages suit filed by three Chinese survivors of the 1932 massacre, which is known as the Pingdingshan Tragedy.

The Tokyo High Court on Friday upheld a lower court ruling, acknowledging that the tragedy caused by intruding Japanese army in Pingdingshan, a village in Fushun city of Liaoning province, indeed took place, but rejecting a damages suit by three survivors.

Fushun citizens from more than 10 social communities Friday gathered for a memorial at the site of the Pingdingshan Massacre, strongly condemning the unfair ruling of the Japanese court. People from Shenyang, capital city of Liaoning province, also set up a group to support the survivors and protest the Japanese court's judgment.

"The unfair judgment indicates Japan's timidity and unwillingness to face the history of invading China," said Prof. Fu Bo, head of the group and president of the Fushun academy of social sciences.

In the Pingdingshan Massacre, the Japanese army rounded up about 3,000 people in the village and slayed most of them, claiming they cooperated with Chinese guerrillas fighting against Japanese aggression. Following the mass execution, the Japanese soldiers burned the bodies and buried them by triggering a landslide with a dynamite explosion. China excavated part of the site in 1970 and displayed the findings in a museum.

The three survivors, including Mo Desheng, Yang Baoshan, and Fang Surong, -- two men and a woman, who were between 4 and 9 years old at the time -- sought 20 million yen each in compensation from the Japanese government.

The three --- Mo Desheng, 80, Yang Baoshan, 82, and Fang Surong, lodged a lawsuit in the Tokyo District Court, demanding the Japanese government admit the atrocities made by the Japanese army, to make an apology to Chinese victims and to compensate them.

In June 2002, the Tokyo District Court made a landmark ruling when it acknowledged the existence of such the massacre by the army -- a first time for a Japanese court. Nevertheless, the court rejected the demand for compensation, saying that the state is free of any responsibility for damage with regard to the exercise of state power at that time. The plaintiffs did not agree with this ruling and appealed to the Tokyo High Court.

"The Tokyo High Court's recent unfair ruling again hurt the massacre victims and survivors of the Pingdingshan Tragedy," Prof. Fu said, noting that the Liaoning people will support the three survivors to appeal to Japan's supreme court.

Source: Xinhua