4.5bn yuan Claim Laid by Hebei Villagers to Japanese Government

Japanese troops killed in cold blood 1280 innocent people of Panjiadai Village on Tangshan of Hebei Province 59 years ago. Altogether 1,900 family members of the victims recently declared that they would formally bring a collective action against the Japanese government through an international lawyer group in a third country, to claim a compensation of 4.5 billion yuan. Meng Zhaode, head of the 1900 claimants, says the suit is lodged in order to let people know the heinous crimes committed by Japanese aggressors in China, who had caused economic losses and irreparable trauma to several generations of Panjiadai villagers.

Panjiadai is a small village in eastern Hebei Province. On December 4, 1942, head of the 27th Division of Japanese troops Suzuki Hirahisa flew into a rage after losing a soldier and a horse in an ambush lay in by Chinese soldiers north of the village, then he gave the order to "mop up the village". The next day, more than 250 cavalrymen, led by Suzuki Makoto, plunged the village in bloodbath as they slaughtered 1280 villagers in one single day by all brutal means possible and then burnt over 1,000 houses, creating the shocking massacre in eastern Hebei during the War of Resistance Against Japan.

Suzuki Hirahisa admitted his crime as he was tried by the Chinese military tribunal in 1956, and knelt down on the spot before Chinese survivors. He was sentenced to 20 years in jail, but in 1958 he was released ahead of time by the Chinese government and returned to Japan. Today, villagers still remember that almost every family in the village had kinsmen who were killed in the massacre.

This is the first collective action brought by Chinese civilians against the Japanese government. There is so far no successful example of case of civilian claim both in China and abroad and it is imaginable how difficult it is for the villagers to win the case with limited financial and material resources, says Meng, but they are determined to go on with the suit through to the end.

As is reported, preparatory work on lawsuit materials is drawing to an end after half a year's efforts by 38 representatives and claimants, and the suit is expected to be formally lodged in a third country within the year.



By PD Online staff member Li Heng


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