The Tokyo High Court rejected an appeal Thursday by eight Dutch former prisoners of war who sought 20 million yen in compensation from the Japanese government for abuse they suffered at the hands of the former Imperial Japanese Army while interned in POW camps.

In handing down his ruling, presiding Judge Shigeki Asao said, "All rights by the Allied Powers (which did not include Holland) and their citizens to demand compensation from Japan were relinquished with the signing of the San Francisco Peace Treaty in September 1951."

Holland became a signatory to the treaty in June 1952.