News-Info-Alerts

Re: Unit 731

To: ALL

From: Andi Wolos & Bob Necci

(POW-MIA InterNetwork)

Date: August 28, 2002

"Court: Unit 731 engaged in biological warfare

The Asahi Shimbun

Chinese plaintiffs denounce the Tokyo District Court's rejection of their compensation claims Tuesday/ The Asahi Shimbun

But the Tokyo District Court says compensation to Chinese victims is out of the question.

A Japanese court Tuesday acknowledged for the first time that the notorious Unit 731 of the Japanese Imperial Army conducted germ warfare on Chinese civilians during World War II. But the same court rejected compensation claims by 180 victims of the biological experiments.

The Tokyo District Court ruled that Unit 731 violated international law during the war but said Japan's responsibility for its wartime actions had been settled with the 1978 signing of the Japan-China Peace and Friendship Treaty.

The 180 plaintiffs were either bereaved family members of individuals believed to have been killed by the germ warfare in China between 1940 and 1942 or residents who suffered in the biological attacks.

The plaintiffs, from the provinces of Hunan and Zhejiang, were each seeking 10 million yen in compensation from the Japanese government. They plan to appeal the decision.

The court verdict acknowledged that the suffering of the plaintiffs and their relatives was ``sufficiently understandable and convincing.''

The plaintiffs had called two former members of Unit 731 to testify about their wartime duties. One member admitted to cultivating germs, while the other said he piloted a plane that dispersed plague bacillus.

In addition, nine scholars from Japan and China provided testimony for the plaintiffs.

Yoshiaki Yoshimi, a professor of modern history at Chuo University, said the work diaries of Unit 731 officers clearly showed that the Japanese Imperial Army had conducted germ warfare even though it was banned by international law. The diaries also indicated that residents died after being infected by fleas carrying the plague bacillus.

The plaintiffs also claimed in court they suffered psychological duress because the Japanese government has continued to deny the existence of the germ warfare experiments throughout the postwar period.

Lawyers for the Japanese government did not dispute the activities of Unit 731. But they argued that under the Imperial Constitution the nation could not be held responsible for any damages caused by the exercise of state power prior to the end of World War II.

The government also urged the court to reject the compensation suit because the 20-year period for filing claims had already passed.

Throughout the trial, government officials failed to address whether the Japanese Imperial Army had been involved in germ warfare.

Prior to World War II, The Hague and Geneva conventions were drawn up and banned germ warfare as inhumane. But documents discovered in the 1990s showed that Unit 731 had secretly conducted germ-warfare experiments in China.

Although the Japanese government has admitted to the existence of Unit 731, officials have repeatedly stated that no documents exist that verify the unit's activities.(IHT/Asahi: August 28,2002)"