Seven Chinese pensioners forced into slave labor in Japan during
World War II lodged a lawsuit in Japan's Miyazaki District Court Tuesday.
Five others, relatives of others who died during their incarceration, are
also claiming compensation.
They are demanding apologies and compensation from the Japanese Government
for what they or their relatives suffered while working for a mining company
owned by the Mitsubishi Corporation in Miyazaki Prefecture during 1944-45.
Twelve laborers from East China's Shandong Province were forcibly taken to
Japan at the end of 1944 and mistreated by the company.
Only seven of them returned home when Japan lost the war in 1945, while the
others died of hunger or disease.
The seven survivors are in their 70s or 80s and the other five are family
dependents of the dead.
Records show that 244 Chinese people were forced into slave labor at the
mining company during 1944-45. Seventy-seven of them died of disease, said
lawyer Kang Jian, who represents the plaintiffs.
"The suit has been delayed until now because there wasn't an available name
list of the all the Chinese laborers in World War II until July last year --
some 60 years after the war ended," said Kang.
On July 18, 2003, Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs was put under a lot of
pressure to make public the documents about the wartime labourers.
The documents have provided a great deal of help in finding the survivors,
Kang said.
This is the 13th case of Chinese suing the Japanese government and businesses
for wartime atrocities.
On July 9, Japan's Hiroshima High Court reversed a lower court ruling
and ordered the Nishimatsu Construction Co Ltd to pay five plaintiffs 27.5
million yen (US$252,600) in compensation.
This was the first time a Japanese high court had ordered damages to be paid
in this type of lawsuit, Kang said.
"The win became an impetus for more Chinese forced laborers to seek
justice," she said.
But some Japanese courts have already rejected demands for compensation made
in other Chinese labour cases, insisting a 20-year statute of limitations has
expired.
About 40,000 Chinese laborers were forced to work in 135 workplaces for 35
corporations in Japan during World War II. Many of them never made it back home.
Twenty-one of the 35 corporations implicated in the crimes, including the
Mitsubishi, Mitsui and Sumintomo Corporation, are still in operation.
"We have strong evidence and we expect the Japanese court to make a just
ruling and face up to history," the lawyer said.
"At the same time, we hope Japanese politicians and businesses value and
respect human rights, apologize to wartime victims and their relatives and pay
proper compensation to them,' she said.
