Forced Chinese labor and their relatives, who won a damages suit in central Japan's Niigata Prefecture in 2004, reiterated their demands of apologies and damages from the Japanese government and related Japanese companies on the Tokyo High Court on Monday afternoon, fighting against the appeal of the defendants which were ruled to pay 8 million yen to each labor.

The group of 86 former labor and relatives of the bereaved ones, who arrived in Tokyo on Sunday for the last step of the court procedure, were part of the more than 900 labor who were taken from China to Niigata and were forced to word by the Japanese invasion army between June 1944 and May 1945, the ending year of WWII.

Zhang Lianxin, who were forcedly brought to Japan at the age of 17, described what he suffered in Japan as a daunting nightmare which inflicts severe grief to his whole life and expressed expectations that the judge could hand a fair ruling.

Zhang Yixian, son of a bereaved Chinese labor, said his father has endured inhumane torture of the Japanese militarism about 60 years ago, and what his father has sought was to revert the truth of history and get back self-dignity.

Kang Jian, lawyer of the plaintiffs, criticized the Japanese government and related Japanese companies for neither offering apologies nor paying damages to the forced labors. She called on the judge to show courage and integrity in giving a fair ruling.

The group assembled and marched around the Japanese Supreme Court and the Tokyo High Court in the morning. During their five days in Japan, they also plan to make statements in other related courts and contact related companies.

Eleven Chinese forced labor filed the damages suit to the Niigata District Court in 1999 and were ordered to be given 8 million yen each in March 2004.

It was the first time a Japanese court had ordered the government to pay compensation in such a case, and both the state and company appealed the ruling to the high court. The Tokyo High Court is expected to hand down its ruling on March 14.

Source: Xinhua