Asia

May 24, 2010
Chemical weapons claim rejected

TOKYO - A COURT in Tokyo on Monday rejected demands for compensation filed by people who said they had suffered from chemical weapons left in China by Japanese troops at the end of World War II.

Forty-eight Chinese victims and family members have demanded Japan pay about 1.4 billion yen (S$21.87 million) in compensation after abandoned stockpiles of poisonous gas killed one and injured 43 in 2003.

The Tokyo court said that Japan should have expected that the dumped chemical arms could harm residents of Qiqihar, a city in Heilongjiang province, which was part of the Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo (Manchuria).

But presiding Judge Toshio Yamada at the Tokyo District Court also said, 'It was difficult for the Japanese government to investigate all the suspected areas since the weapons were abandoned in vast areas of main China. The damages were grave, but the court cannot recognise the legal responsibility of the (Japanese) state,' he said.

In the incident in August 2003, one Chinese national died after poisonous gas leaked from an abandoned container at a construction site, which also injured 43 others, including school-age children.

Many similar cases have been filed by Chinese nationals but none has won a favourable verdict. -- AFP

TOKYO - A COURT in Tokyo on Monday rejected demands for compensation filed by people who said they had suffered from chemical weapons left in China by Japanese troops at the end of World War II.

Forty-eight Chinese victims and family members have demanded Japan pay about 1.4 billion yen (S$21.87 million) in compensation after abandoned stockpiles of poisonous gas killed one and injured 43 in 2003.

The Tokyo court said that Japan should have expected that the dumped chemical arms could harm residents of Qiqihar, a city in Heilongjiang province, which was part of the Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo (Manchuria).

But presiding Judge Toshio Yamada at the Tokyo District Court also said, 'It was difficult for the Japanese government to investigate all the suspected areas since the weapons were abandoned in vast areas of main China. The damages were grave, but the court cannot recognise the legal responsibility of the (Japanese) state,' he said.

In the incident in August 2003, one Chinese national died after poisonous gas leaked from an abandoned container at a construction site, which also injured 43 others, including school-age children.

Many similar cases have been filed by Chinese nationals but none has won a favourable verdict. -- AFP