The laborers in question were forced to work under severe conditions at a construction site in Hiroshima Prefecture during World War II.

The high court overturned a July 2002 ruling by the Hiroshima District Court that rejected the lawsuit brought by Shao Yicheng, 78, and four other plaintiffs four years earlier against Nishimatsu Construction Co., a Tokyo-based construction firm.

It is the first time in a series of lawsuits involving slave laborers that a high court has ordered the defendant to pay damages to the plaintiffs.

Nishimatsu immediately filed an appeal with the Supreme Court.

Presiding Judge Satoshi Suzuki rejected Nishimatsu's argument that the statute of limitations had expired on the firm's violation of its obligation to ensure the safety of its workers.

"Forcibly taking people to Japan and making them work is a serious violation of human rights, and the argument that brings up the 10-year statute of limitations runs counter to (the course of) justice," Suzuki said.

The judge awarded the plaintiffs, who included relatives of deceased laborers, the full amount they had demanded -- ¥5.5 million each -- when they filed the suit with the Hiroshima District Court in January 1998.

The Japan Times Weekly: July 17, 2004
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