Japan's Supreme Court on Tuesday turned down two appeals against
rulings on Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's visits to the
war-linked Yasukuni Shrine.
The top court backed earlier lower-court rulings which had
rejected charges that Koizumi's controversial visits violate
Japan's pacifist constitution. Claims for damages for mental
distress were also thrown out.
The two lawsuits, filed by more than 100 people comprising
families of the war dead and religious figures from Chiba
prefecture and the Shikoku region, were rejected because they were
simple claims for legal violations and were not eligible for appeal
at the Supreme Court, Kyodo News quoted the justices of
the Supreme Court as saying.
The accusers maintain that Koizumi's visits were done in his
official capacity and violated the constitutional provision on
separation of religion and state. They say that the premier's
activities brought them psychological stress because their freedom
of faith and thought was threatened.
Last year, both the Tokyo High Court and the Takamatsu High
Court upheld lower court decisions which rejected the claims but
avoided ruling on whether the premier's visits were constitutional
or not.
Koizumi's annual visits to the shrine since he took power in
2001, where 14 Class-A war criminals are honored along with more
than 2 million Japanese war dead, have infuriated Japan's Asian
neighbors, especially China and South Korea, who suffered
atrocities from Japanese aggression before and during WWII.
(Xinhua News Agency June 28, 2006)
