Court hits Koizumi's shrine visit
From CNN Correspondent Atika Shubert and Producer Junko Ogura
TOKYO, Japan (CNN) -- A Japanese court has declared unconstitutional a visit by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to a war shrine, according to lawyers for plaintiffs who sought monetary damages in a suit stemming from the visit.
But an official of the Fukuoka District Court told CNN Wednesday that the judges rejected claims for compensation by more than 200 plaintiffs.
The plaintiffs had claimed that Koizumi's visit to Yasukuni shrine in Tokyo in August 2001 caused them distress.
Koizumi has made several visits to Yasukuni shrine, the Shinto religious monument that honors Japan's war dead, including several Class A war criminals from World War II.
The visits have stirred debate in Japan and provoked protests from neighboring China as well as South and North Korea. All three countries suffered at the hands of Japan's military aggression in World War II.
Judges in Fukuoka, the center of Kyushu region in south-western Japan, said that since the visit was made in Koizumi's official capacity as prime minister, he violated Article 20 of the constitution prohibiting the state from carrying out religious activities.
