TOKYO, Sept. 18 (Xinhua) -- "We lost the case in court, but we won the historical truth," Japanese lawyer Norio Minami, who has been advocating for the victims of abandoned chemical weapons left in China during WWII by Japanese aggressors, said in an interview with Xinhua in Tokyo recently.
Minami is among a group of Japanese lawyers who have been helping Chinese victims to sue the Japanese government for more than 30 years. This legal team was established in 1995 and has since grown to include approximately 500 lawyers.
Since then, Minami and his colleagues have represented Chinese victims in a series of lawsuits against the Japanese government and related companies regarding historical crimes such as the Nanjing Massacre, Unit 731, the "comfort women," forced labor, the Pingdingshan Massacre, and the abandoned chemical weapons.
Although some lawsuits achieved partial victories in local and high courts, they all ended in defeat at the Supreme Court. "The fundamental reason lies in the Japanese government's reluctance to acknowledge the victimization, while the Japanese society has also failed to adequately acknowledge and reflect upon this part of history," Minami said.
However, losing the lawsuit does not mean that the truth has been lost.
Minami believes that the lawyers' efforts have not been in vain. "These lawsuits have revealed the crimes committed by the then Japanese Imperial Army and have shown the heavy burden that the victims have carried throughout their lives. These facts have been confirmed in all cases," he said.
"We have won the facts themselves, and this is a tremendous achievement. The historical facts recognized by the (Japanese) courts have become an indelible record," he added.
Take the lawsuit filed against Japan in 1996 by three Pingdingshan Massacre survivors, including Mo Desheng, for example. Although the plaintiffs' lawsuit was ultimately dismissed, the verdict clearly established the fact of the massacre: "The Japanese army forcibly drove nearly all the villagers of Pingdingshan Village to the foot of a cliff southwest of the village, where they indiscriminately opened fire with machine guns and other weapons, then stabbed the survivors with bayonets, killing most of the villagers. The next day, the Japanese army, in collusion with personnel from the Japanese-owned coal mine, gathered the remains of the victims at the foot of the cliff and burned them, then blew up the cliff wall to bury the bodies."
In 2014, the lawsuit filed by the victims of poison gas bombs abandoned by the Japanese invaders in Qiqihar, Heilongjiang Province, and Dunhua, Jilin Province, was ultimately dismissed. However, the lawyers continued their pursuit and are now turning to another battle -- demanding that the Japanese government disclose a large number of hidden archives and materials related to poison gas bombs.
"The Japanese government always tries to cover up the issue of poison gas bombs. We found that almost all the information about poison gas bombs was completely blacked out." Minami said that the lawyers have compiled more than 300 pieces of evidence, compared them one by one with the government's reasons for "non-disclosure" and raised questions. Currently, they are applying to the court for full disclosure.
During WWII, the Japanese militarists secretly produced a large quantity of chemical weapons and used them in the war of aggression against China in violation of international law, with as many as 1,241 documented instances. On the eve of their defeat in 1945, the Japanese invaders buried or abandoned large quantities of these weapons to cover up their crimes. These weapons still pose a serious threat and hazard to the lives and property of people in relevant regions of China, as well as to the ecological environment, to this day.
According to incomplete statistics, since the end of WWII, the abandoned Japanese chemical weapons have caused the deaths of over 2,000 Chinese people.
"The Japanese military's manufacture and use of poison gas to harm the Chinese people was essentially an act of aggression, and abandoning chemical weapons was precisely to cover up their crimes," said Minami.
According to the provisions of the Chemical Weapons Convention, Japan was supposed to complete the destruction of its abandoned chemical weapons by 2007. However, due to insufficient attention and inadequate investment, Japan has repeatedly missed the deadlines, and the disposal of its abandoned chemical weapons has been seriously delayed.
Minami said, "Regardless of how long it takes to dispose of the abandoned chemical weapons, Japan should be fully responsible for the entire process."
Looking to the future, Minami said that the lawyers are sorting out video materials and interview records of victims of the Japanese invasion of China, and plan to make them into videos and post them on social media, so that more young people can understand the truth of history.
"There are no winners in war, and those who harm others will harm themselves. I hope young people (in Japan) can realize the profound disasters that the aggression launched by Japan in the past have caused to the Chinese people, and we must not allow such wars to recur. This is not only for the sake of others, but also for Japan itself," Minami said. Enditem
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