Government appeals against Hibakusha-favored court ruling
The government on April 12 appealed to a high court against a district court decision ordering the state to certify that Azuma Kazuo, an atomic-bomb survivor (Hibakusha), has hepatitis C caused by the A-bombing.
Claiming that the judge wrongly recognized the causal relationship between Azuma's illness and radiation exposure, the Health, Labor, and Welfare Ministry appealed to the Supreme Court.
Azuma, who was exposed to radiation in Nagasaki in 1945, filed a lawsuit demanding that the government recognize his chronic hepatitis as caused by the A-bombing.
The Tokyo District Court on March 31 supported the 75 year-old plaintiff's claim.
Yamamoto Hidenori, secretary of the Tokyo Confederation of A- and H- Bomb Sufferers Organizations (Tokyo Hidankyo), said, "The judge comprehensively considered Azuma's condition when he was exposed to radiation as well as acute symptoms he suffered following the bombing, then concluded that exposure to radiation caused his chronic hepatitis. The government should change its system of recognizing Hibakusha's diseases."
On the same day, Hibakusha and their supporters held a demonstration in front of the Health Ministry to press the government to not appeal to a higher court. They also called for a victory in the ongoing concerted lawsuits demanding that the government recognize Hibakusha as having A-bomb related illnesses. (end)
