Chinese victims, who were injured in Qiqihar of northeastern China's
Heilongjiang Province in 2003 by leakage of chemical weapons abandoned by the
Japanese invasion army, filed a lawsuit to the Tokyo District Court yesterday,
demanding state compensation from the Japanese government.
The plaintiffs accused the Japanese government of ignoring the potentially
dangerous chemical weapons and failing to prevent the misfortune from happening.
They demanded that the Japanese government give a compensation of 1.43 billion
yen (about 11.95 million U.S. dollars) in total, including 33 million yen (about
275,000 dollars) to each of the 43 injured and 15.4 million yen (about 128,000
dollars) to the family of the killed.
Accompanied by a group of Japanese volunteer lawyers, Feng Jiayuan and Ding
Shuwen, representing the plaintiffs, submitted the suit paper to the court later
in the day.
According to Japanese lawyers, the plaintiffs decided to file the suit
because they got no candid answers from the Japanese government since they
demanded sustaining support for life and medical care.
On Aug. 4, 2003, fatal leakage from abandoned Japanese chemical weapons
killed one and injured 43 others in Qiqihar when barrels of mustard gas were dug
up at a construction site. The Japanese government has agreed to give 300
million yen (about 2.5 million dollars) to deal with the aftermath of the
accident after rounds of consultation with the Chinese side.
