The Sapporo District Court on Tuesday rejected an 860 million yen damages suit against the government and six companies filed by 43 Chinese nationals enslaved to work at coal mines and construction sites in Hokkaido during World War II.

Presiding Judge Masaaki Okuda acknowledged that the plaintiffs were forced to perform hard labor under poor conditions, but ruled in favor of the government and the firms, which argued the statute of limitations had expired.

Okuda said government reparations do not apply to cases occurring before the 1947 creation of the State Redress Law. Tokyo had argued that the government was excused from having to compensate those harmed in the exercise of state power before the legislation.