Three men in their 80s and 90s lost a suit Thursday against the state over their 1950 firings amid the anticommunist Red Purge during the Occupation.
The Kobe District Court rejected the ¥60 million damages suit filed by the plaintiffs, all city residents, who argued that the government did not provide redress after sovereignty was restored in 1952.
It is the first ruling in such a damages suit against the state. Around 100 Red Purge victims have filed for human rights redress with local bar associations, according to a Tokyo-based liaison center of people who opposed the purge from the late 1940s to the early 1950s.
The plaintiffs, Yutaka Ohashi, 81, Yoshihiro Kawasaki, 94, and Seijiro Yasuhara, 90, who were members of the Japanese Communist Party, were dismissed between August and October 1950 from the now-defunct Telecommunications Ministry — the predecessor of the Nippon Telegraph and Telephone group — major glass maker Asahi Glass Co. and Kawasaki Steel Corp., which is now part of JFE Steel Corp., respectively.
Presiding Judge Kazuko Yao said the government's failure to provide redress did not represent a violation of the 1947 state redress law that requires the government to compensate victims in cases of illegal acts by government officials.
During the court battle that commenced in March 2009, the plaintiffs claimed they suffered financial and mental woes as they could not return to work or restore their honor as the state failed to look into their cases.
The government argued it was not obliged to provide redress, saying the dismissals were legitimately instructed by the Occupation powers.