Bombing victims to sue in Chinese court

VICTIMS of a series of bombings of a southwest Chinese city during World War II are seeking compensation from the Japanese government, more than seven decades after atrocities that killed nearly 40,000 people.

The collective civil suit was brought by 15 Chongqing bombing survivors - including 91-year-old Wang Shuchen- and their families before the Chongqing Municipal Higher People's Court yesterday.

Pan Guoping, the victims' lawyer, said the compensation claim of each family varied from 1.5 million to 80 million yuan (US$236,220 to US$12.6 million).

Suits, still ongoing, were filed in Japanese courts between 2006 and 2009 but this is the first time a civil group has sued in a domestic court.

The Japanese army was blamed for indiscriminately bombing Chongqing and nearby cities between February 1938 and December 1944.

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