TOKYO: Three people who were forcibly sterilised under a now-defunct eugenics law in Japan are suing the government Thursday (May 17) as part of…
TOKYO: Three people who were forcibly sterilised under a now-defunct eugenics law in Japan are suing the government Thursday (May 17) as part of a movement seeking an apology and compensation for victims.
The suits, which are being filed in Tokyo and elsewhere in Japan, come after the first such legal action by a victim earlier this year.
« I came out (to court) hoping that many other victims, who have been in agony for decades like myself, will raise their voices and join hands with us » in seeking justice, said a 75-year-old plaintiff filing suit in Tokyo.
« I want the government to admit the truth and I want my life back, » he told reporters, using the pseudonym Saburo Kita.
Kita was sterilised as a teenager. When he married years later, he couldn’t bring himself to tell his wife, only confiding in her shortly before her death in 2013.
He is seeking 30 million yen (US$273,000) from the government, his lawyer Naoto Sekiya said.
« Not only did the parliament fail to take action (on relief measures), the administration also actively implemented a policy that was clearly a breach of the constitution even at the time, » Sekiya told reporters.
