TOKYO — A Japanese court on Wednesday rejected a $9 million compensation demand from Filipino women forced into sexual slavery by Japan's army during World War II.
The Tokyo High Court upheld a lower-court ruling that the government has no obligation to pay damages to the 80 women — former sex slaves and their relatives, said court official Ikuo Morita.
Despite the setback, the plaintiffs refused to give up.
"I will fight till I die," said Carmecita Ramel, 74. "They are all criminals, the Japanese government."
Historians say about 200,000 women, mostly Koreans and Filipinas, were forced to work in wartime Japanese brothels set up for soldiers.
The judge cited an international law saying individuals are not allowed to sue a government for human rights abuses, said prosecution lawyer Fumio Takemura. He said the statute of limitations also expired.
The ruling comes less than a week after the court rejected a former Korean sex slave's demands for compensation.
Tokyo has acknowledged that its wartime military was systematically involved in brothel operation.
It insists that all government-level compensation was settled by postwar peace treaties.
The mock tribunal that starts Friday will listen to the testimony of former sex slaves from several Asian countries.
Several historical figures will be on trial, including Japanese Emperor Hirohito and wartime cabinet ministers. The verdict, to be handed down on Tuesday, is meant to call attention to the former sex slaves' decades-long fight for justice.
"We want our honor and dignity restored," said Jan Ruff-O'Herne, a Dutch woman who said she was victimized by Japanese troops in Indonesia. "A country can't go on in the future if it doesn't admit the wrongs of the past."
Also Wednesday, two South Korean women sued the government and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. for forcing them to work in a factory in Nagoya, western Japan, during the war.