中国首次受理二次大戦中被‘強行帶走’民間賠償申請

Recently the FNN News on-line reported the following:

中国の裁判所、第2次大戦中の「強制連行」めぐる訴状を初受理

中国・北京市の裁判所が、第2次大戦中の「強制連行」に関する損害賠償に関し、訴状を受理したことが明らかになった。
中国政府が強制連行に関する個人賠償の裁判を認めるのは、日中の国交正常化後初めて。
原告側の弁護士は「(受理は)労働者の権利を守るうえで、非常に重大な意義がある」と述べた。
訴えを起こした中国人の元労働者らの弁護団によると、18日午後、北京市の中級人民法院から、訴状を受理するとの連絡があったという。
裁判の日程など、詳細はまだ決まっていない。
中国政府はこれまで、民間の対日賠償請求について、中国国内での提訴を受理しなかったが、今回初めて、習近平政権が個人賠償を容認したことになり、今後、同様の訴訟が相次ぐなど、日中関係に大きな影響が出るとみられる。
元労働者や遺族ら40人は、三菱マテリアルなど日本企業2社に対し、1人あたり、日本円でおよそ1,700万円の損害賠償などを求めている。(03/18 20:30)

(試譯文)

It became clear that a court in Beijing of China had accepted a legal case that sought reparations for being "forcibly taken away" during the Second World War.

This was the first time since the normalization of Sino-Japanese diplomatic relations in that the Chinese government accepted legal cases on personal compensation for ‘being taken away by force’.

The plaintiff's lawyer said "(because of this acceptance) workers' right is protected, it has a very significant meaning".

According to the defense team for the former Chinese workers that started the petition, they said that they were contacted in the afternoon of the 18^th and were told that their complaint had been accepted by the Intermediate People’s Court in Beijing.

Details on the schedule of the trial etc. had not been decided yet.

Because all along the Chinese government had not accept legal challenge from the individual to demand Japanese compensation in China, this meant that for the first time the Xi Jinping Administration allowed individual compensation, and from now on, when similar law suits came out one after another, a huge impact on Japan-China relations could be expected.

Forty former workers and people (from bereaved families) were asking for about 17 million yen reparations etc. per person from two Japanese companies such as the Mitsubishi Materials.

(03/18 20:30)

     I hope such a change in policy in China would not deter Japanese investors.