6th court ruling against state over A-bomb disease sufferer recognition

   The Kumamoto District Court on July 30 ruled that 19 out of 21 plaintiff Hibakusha shall be recognized as suffering from illnesses caused by the atomic bombings, ordering the government to retract its rejection of such recognition that those plaintiffs had applied for.

   This ruling marked the government’s sixth loss in a row in Hibakusha’s concerted lawsuits seeking official recognition as patients of A-bomb related illnesses, following the rulings of district courts in Osaka, Hiroshima, Nagoya, Sendai, and Tokyo. A total of 266 Hibakusha are taking part as plaintiffs in the lawsuits filed at 20 district and high courts throughout Japan.

In the recent decision, Presiding Judge Ishii Hiroshi pointed out that the amount of radiation that the Hibakusha had been actually exposed to could be higher than the level that the state estimated. He criticized the government’s mechanical application of its criteria of certifying Hibakusha’s diseases and called for a way of recognition to be implemented that will fit the reality of the sufferings.

   The Health Ministry has appealed to higher courts against all five district court rulings in favor of Hibakusha.

   On the same day, Hibakusha and their supporters gathering in front of the Health Ministry in Tokyo demanded that the government immediately stop appealing court decisions and deal immediately with the A-bomb disease certification process.

   Japanese Communist Party Policy Commission Chair Koike Akira on the same day issued a statement demanding that the government seriously take into account the six court rulings, give up its appeal to higher courts, and drastically revise its standards to certify A-bomb related diseases. He stated that the JCP will continue to strive for the establishment of a new standard reflecting the reality of Hibakusha’s sufferings.                  - Akahata, July 31, 2007