The Naha District Court on Friday ordered the government to pay 470,000 yen in damages to an Okinawa landowner for forcing him to lease land to the U.S. military even after the land-use contract expired in 1996.
The court ruled in favor of Shoichi Chibana, a 53-year-old antimilitary activist and assembly member in the village of Yomitan, who filed the lawsuit with seven other landowners in connection with the case. Chibana's dispute with the government is serving as a representative case.
"It is obvious that (the government) seized the land without a legal basis. The government bears responsibility in the case under the State Redress Law," presiding Judge Yutaka Watahiki said. However, the court dismissed claims by the seven other plaintiffs.
The eight plaintiffs demanded the government pay them a total of 100 million yen in damages.