Plaintiffs of a damages suit over Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's visit to Tokyo's war- related Yasukuni Shrine has decided to appeal a high court ruling, which rejected their claims, to the Supreme Court, the plaintiffs' lawyer group announced Wednesday.

The Tokyo High Court ruled Sept. 29 that the visit in August 2001 was personal, supporting a ruling by the Chiba District Court in November 2004 that rejected the plaintiffs' damages claim. The high court reserved the initial ruling that the visit was official.

The plaintiffs have argued Koizumi's visit to the Shinto shrine violated their constitutional right to freedom of religion, according to the lawyers.

On a similar sue case, the Osaka High Court on Sept. 30 ruled that Koizumi's visits to the Yasukuni Shrine were unconstitutional. The ruling said Koizumi visited the war criminal-related shrine in an official capacity.

The 180 plaintiffs, more than half coming from China's Taiwan Province, on Tuesday decided to accept the Osaka high court ruling that the premier's shrine visit unconstitutional, saying it is commendable in that it recognized Koizumi's Yasukuni visits unconstitutional.

The high court overrode a ruling made by the Osaka District Court last May which did not say whether the visits had violated Japan Constitution, which forbids government officials engaging in religious activities in their official capacities.

The high court made the ruling based on the facts that Koizumi used governmental vehicles and signed as prime minister in the visitor's book during his three visits from 2001 to 2003.

Koizumi paid annual visit to the shrine over the past four years. He has not yet made clear when or whether he would visit the facility this year.

The Yasukuni Shrine enshrines 14 Class-A World War II war criminals responsible for Japan's aggression war against its Asian neighbors. His visits have been strongly protested by Asian countries, especially China and South Korea.

Source: Xinhua