The Tokyo High Court on Wednesday ordered a journalist to pay 4 million yen in damages to Takeshi Abe, a former vice president of Teikyo University and a hemophilia expert, over a defamation case linked to a scandal involving HIV-tainted blood products.
In overturning a lower court decision, the high court ordered journalist Yoshiko Sakurai to compensate Abe over an article in the April 1994 issue of the monthly magazine Chuo Koron, as well as a book she has written. Abe had demanded 10 million yen in damages.
Representatives for Sakurai said the ruling ignores the pain of those who contracted HIV through the blood products in question and that their client would immediately appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court.