The government has won a court case brought by almost 8,400 Indonesian villagers, who were suing for about ¥42 billion in damages allegedly caused by a dam funded with official development assistance.

The Tokyo District Court ruled Thursday that 8,396 villagers from Sumatra island didn't have a claim against the government and its aid agencies.

"The case is an internal matter for the Indonesian government to deal with," Yasushi Nakamura, the presiding judge, said when reading out the verdict.

Lawyers for the villagers said it was the first lawsuit involving claims over the use of ODA, according to their Web site. The Kotopanjang dam in central Sumatra was completed in 1997 and led to the forced resettlement of as many as 23,000 people, according to the plaintiffs.

The villagers, who made a livelihood from fishing on the river that was dammed, were seeking ¥5 million per plaintiff for forcibly being resettled without proper assistance. They say they became "development refugees," with no access to clean water or sustainable sources of food and no job opportunities.

The suit was filed against the government, Japan International Cooperation Agency, Japan Bank for International Cooperation and Tokyo Electric Power Services Co. at the Tokyo District Court in 2002.

The hydroelectric dam, built on the border of West Sumatra and Riau provinces, began operating in 1998 for a cost of about ¥30 billion, which will be paid back over 30 years at an interest rate of 2.5 percent, JICA said.

The dam was built after electricity demand rose eightfold from 1985 and provides about 20 percent of the power needs of a population of 9 million, according to JICA.

JICA said 16,954 people, or 4,886 households, were forced to move.