Chinese victims of Japanese germ warfare in the early 1940s filed a class-action suit with the Tokyo District Court on Aug. 11, demanding that the government acknowledge the damage and compensate them individually.
The 108 plaintiffs are victims of Japanese biological attacks and their families in six areas of China, including 30 people from Chongshan, Zhejiang Province, and 30 others from Changde, Hunan Province. They are seeking 10 million yen each in damages for their suffering.
Among nearly 30 war-damages suits filed with Japanese courts, this is the first in connection with Japan's use of biological weapons during the Sino-Japanese War.