Tatsuo Chiba, who along with other former Hansen's disease patients won a landmark court ruling in 2001 against the government's former segregation policy, died Sunday of liver failure, his supporters said. He was 63.
After meeting with Chiba and other former Hansen's patients, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi decided not to appeal the May 2001 ruling and apologized in a political move aimed at settling the issue swiftly.
In the ruling, the Kumamoto District Court ordered compensation be paid to 127 former Hansen's disease patients confined in special centers under the 1953 Leprosy Prevention Law, saying the government violated their human rights. The law was repealed in 1996.
Born in Osaka Prefecture to a Korean family, Chiba contracted the disease and entered a special sanitarium in Okayama Prefecture in May 1952 at age 12.
While his registered name was Chon Ryong Bu, he used the Japanese name Tatsuo Chiba due to discrimination in Japan not only against Hansen's patients but also against Korean residents.
In April 2002, Chiba left the sanitarium to take advantage of government support for former patients' social reintegration. He received an elementary school certificate last February but fell ill and was hospitalized in the fall.
