The Tokyo High Court has upheld a ruling ordering the author and publisher of a book on the Nanjing Massacre in China to compensate an 84-year-old Chinese woman who said it defamed her.
The suit was filed in 1999 by Li Xiuying, a resident of Nanjing, and demanded that author Toshio Matsumura, 75, and Tokyo-based publisher Tendensha pay a total of 12 million yen in damages and publish an apology. Li said she was a victim of the 1937 massacre by the Imperial Japanese Army, but the book claimed she had lied.
In May last year, the Tokyo District Court ordered them to pay Li compensation of 1.5 million yen, but dismissed the demand for an apology. Both sides subsequently filed appeals.