A court in Kumamoto on Wednesday ruled for the first time that special trials for segregated leprosy patients set up outside of standard courtrooms in the past were unconstitutional, but the court rejected a demand for damages.
The Kumamoto District Court made the judgment in handing down a ruling on a damages suit filed by former patients related to the execution of another patient with Hansen's disease in the 1960s.
"The trial at the special court violated the personal rights (of the executed patient), was unreasonable discrimination based on the fact that he suffered from leprosy and violated Articles 13 and 14 of the Constitution," the court said in its ruling.