The Supreme Court has upheld lower court rulings rejecting demands for compensation by around 5,000 Indonesian residents who say they were displaced by a dam construction project backed by Japan's official development assistance program, court officials said Thursday.
Its ruling Wednesday upheld decisions at the Tokyo District Court in September 2009 and Tokyo High Court in December 2012.
According to the rulings, the Japanese government contributed about 31 billion yen under its ODA scheme to the construction of the Koto Panjang Dam project in central Sumatra. Initial plans for the dam go back to 1980, and its construction was completed in 1997.
The top court's Second Petty Bench, led by Justice Katsumi Chiba, supported the Tokyo District Court's finding that the resident's relocation was a matter for the Indonesian government and the Japanese government did not have a legal duty to the residents.