China on Friday set up a legal aid fund for helping the Japanese
aggressive war sufferers sue in Japan's courts for seeking
compensations from the Japanese government and relevant companies
involved.
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The fund, with the starting sum of 300,000 yuan (US$37,040), was
jointly launched by the All-China Lawyers' Association and China
Legal Aid Foundation.
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Yu Ning, president of the All-China Lawyers' Association, said at a
press conference that the special fund is aimed at offering money
to Chinese wartime victims who are going to take compensation
proceedings and also to Chinese lawyers who uphold justice for
those Chinese victims.
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This fund will be a great stimulation and support for the Chinese
lawyers who work voluntarily for the wartime sufferers and
safeguard their legitimate rights and interests, and will help
oblige those in Japan held responsible to apologize and compensate
for their past atrocities by legal procedures, Yu said.
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Takahashi Tohru, Japanese lawyer and head of the Japanese lawyer
team for helping Chinese wartime sufferers demand compensation from
the Japanese government, said one of the major difficulties for
Chinese war sufferers to win their compensation
litigation was the lack of money. The plaintiff did not have enough
money to collect evidence and lawyers have no money to conduct
their field studies.
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"The legal aid fund will be enlarged by accepting donation from
individuals or social organizations, and lawful earnings from
investment," said Chen Yiwei, deputy secretary-general of China's
lawful aid foundation.
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"We will put into use this special fund in strict accordance with
the related regulations on the use of special fund issued by the
State Council," Chen said.
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China's victims of the Japanese aggressive war, including "comfort
women", laborer workers, survivors of the infamy Nanjing Massacre
and sufferers of the remained gas bombs, started their efforts to
seek war compensation from Japan in the 1980s. To date,
25 lawsuits on Chinese war victims asking compensation from Japan
have been accepted and tried by the Japanese courts, but plaintiffs
were the losers of all the lawsuits.?
(Xinhua News Agency July 30, 2005)