Hearing against Nanjing Massacre apologist begins
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-11-26 10:13

A Chinese court has begun hearings in a suit brought by an elderly woman enraged that a Japanese writer called her testimony of the infamous 1937 Nanjing Massacre a lie.

Japanese Imperial Army soldiers about to behead a Chinese man in Nanjing. A Chinese court has begun hearings in a suit brought by an elderly woman enraged that a Japanese writer called her testimony of the infamous 1937 Nanjing Massacre a lie. [AFP]

The defendants, Toshio Matsumura and his publisher, Teiunsya Corp. Ltd., did not attend the hearing which got underway at the Nanjing court in east China on Wednesday, Xinhua news agency said.

The plaintiff, Xia Shuqin, said at the age of eight she saw Japanese troops kill seven of her family members during the bloodbath that followed their capture of China's then-capital.

"A Japanese soldier stabbed me in the left shoulder, left side and back with his bayonet, I passed out because of the severe pain," Xia said.

When she regained consciousness, she found only she and her four-year-old sister had survived. They hid in the room full of bodies for 14 days before being rescued by an elderly woman.

Her experiences were recorded in the book, "The Good Man of Nanking: The Diaries of John Rabe."

She said she was enraged to have been labeled a false witness by Matsumura in his controversial 1998 book, "Big Doubts about the Nanjing Massacre," Xinhua reported.

Among the demands raised by Xia, now in her mid-70s, is an apology in Japanese and Chinese newspapers and compensation of 800,000 yuan (96,000 dollars).

Several survivors of the Nanjing Massacre have filed suits over the years, but this case is different because it targets apologists downplaying the event, rather than the perpetrators themselves.

It could mirror similar developments in Europe, where court cases against Nazi war criminals are becoming rarer, because most of them have now died.

Instead, legal battles are increasingly being fought against those denying crimes including the Holocaust took place.

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