After The War | Why are China’s ‘comfort women’ still waiting for courts to accept landmark lawsuits?
Lawyers and survivors of Japan’s wartime sexual slavery urge courts in China to hear cases as 80th anniversary of end of WWII approaches
Four months later, eight elderly survivors from Hunan province – now averaging 96 years old – filed a similar lawsuit, demanding a formal apology and 2 million yuan (US$276,000) in compensation from the Japanese government for each victim.
Despite the historic importance of these cases, the provincial high courts in Shanxi and Hunan have not responded or provided a timeline for when they might take up the lawsuits, nor have they thrown out the cases.
“Time waits for no one,” said Jia Fangyi, a lawyer with Beijing Jia Fang Yi Law Firm. Jia leads a group of lawyers representing the plaintiffs in Shanxi and Hunan.
For these plaintiffs, the fight is not just for restitution but for recognition of their suffering – before it is too late.