A civic group opposed to recently enacted legislation authorizing the biggest changes since World War II to Japan's military posture said Thursday it will sue the government for refusing to issue visas to Chinese war victims to attend a protest rally last week.

The Committee for Solidarity between Asia and Japan said it applied for visas for 12 Chinese, including relatives of victims of Japan's WWII biological warfare, for a three-day rally through last Sunday, but all were refused.

The development "is an act of violence that suppresses free speech to oppose the (Prime Minister Shinzo) Abe government and tramples on democracy," the group told a news conference in Tokyo.

The Foreign Ministry said the visa applications failed to meet criteria and no political intention was involved nor pressure exerted to deny the visas.

At least four of the Chinese invited to the rally — held to push for the abolition of what the organizers call the "war legislation" — had previously been granted visas and come to Japan, the group said.

Lawyer Keiichiro Ichinose, who was going to act as the guarantor for the invited Chinese, said the government hampered "an opportunity for war victims and citizens to gather and exchange views on how we should deal with government moves that seem headed toward war."