The family of a Chinese victim of mustard gas left behind by the
Japanese troops during World War II has decided to file a lawsuit
against the Japanese government, lawyers have told China
Daily.
Family members of Li Guizhen, who died on August 21 from serious
burns from the highly toxic gas, will bring action in a Japanese
court.
Some 43 other victims of the leak in Qiqihar in northeast
China's Heilongjiang Province in early August hope that government
officials can negotiate a settlement in the matter. A third round
of Sino-Japanese discussions began yesterday in Beijing.
The Li family's lawyer Su Xiangxiang said the family plans to
officially proceed with its suit the same day that 10 Japanese
victims of chemical weapons left by the Japanese army during World
War II plan to sue the Japanese government.
The 10 -- all Japanese children -- were poisoned in April by
drinking water from local wells tainted by a chemical weapons
factory in Japan used during the war.
When asked why he chose the same day as the Japanese victims, Su
said in a telephone interview that both plaintiffs suffered from
the same toxic chemical elements.
Statistics show that at least 22 cases have been filed against
the Japanese government or Japanese enterprises by Chinese
civilians since 1995 involving toxins from the war.
Yu Ning, deputy chairman of the All-China Lawyers' Association,
said Chinese civilians have only won or partially won three suits,
and achieved settlements in other lawsuits.
Chinese plaintiffs have failed in about a dozen other suits, and
another seven lawsuits have not yet gone to hearings, Yu added.
However, Japanese defendants in three suits have appealed to
higher courts, including one which resulted in a recent ruling by a
Tokyo District Court judge who ordered the Japanese government to
pay compensation to 13 Chinese victims.
(China Daily October 14, 2003)