The Tokyo High Court cited the statute of limitations Wednesday in overturning a landmark ruling that had ordered the state and a Niigata transport firm to compensate former Chinese forced laborers in Japan during World War II.</PARAGRAPH> <PARAGRAPH>The court also rejected a demand by the 28 plaintiffs, including six former Chinese laborers and the relatives of 22 others now deceased, that the government and Niigata-based Rinko Corp. pay 25 million yen in damages to each claimant.</PARAGRAPH> <PARAGRAPH>The court acknowledged that the state and the company infringed on the laborers' right to life and freedom, but rejected the claims on grounds that the 20-year period for the plaintiffs to demand compensation had expired. It had in fact expired before Japan and China established diplomatic relations in 1972.</PARAGRAPH> <PARAGRAPH>The court also said the state cannot be held responsible for actions taken before the National Redress Law went into force in 1947.</PARAGRAPH> <PARAGRAPH>Yojiro Nakamura, who heads the counsel for the plaintiffs, said they intend to appeal the ruling.</PARAGRAPH> <PARAGRAPH>Zhang Yixian, 52, one of the plaintiffs whose father was a forced laborer, expressed anger in a news conference held after the ruling, saying, 'I'm shocked to find that the judges' idea is still like this even though more than 60 years have passed. It seems Japan has been covering up this tragic history and seeking to have people forget.'</PARAGRAPH> <PARAGRAPH>Underlining his determination to continue the court battle, he said, 'I think the trial will reveal how ugly the Japanese government's argument is.'</PARAGRAPH> <PARAGRAPH>Experts said the high court failed to play its role in dispensing justice and recompensing victims whose rights were abused. </PARAGRAPH> <PARAGRAPH>'This ruling shows that the court takes a soft approach to the pursuit of the –

responsibilities of the government and major companies," said Yuzuru Tamura, a law professor at Matsuyama University and an expert on the forced labor issue. "I believe the court forgot that it is the final fort to protect the victims' rights."

According to a Foreign Ministry report, about 39,000 Chinese were brought to Japan toward the end of the war and were forced to work in coal mines, construction sites and other dangerous sites.

In Niigata, 901 Chinese were forced to engage in hard labor under poor conditions for Rinko between 1943 and 1944. They received little food, were abused and not paid, and during the year, 159 of them died, according to lawyers for the plaintiffs.

In March 2004, the Niigata District Court ordered the government and the company to pay 8 million yen in damages to each of the plaintiffs -- the first ruling in which a court acknowledged the state's responsibility for the wartime slave labor.