Tokyo

A court has ruled that the Japanese military was involved in mass suicides in Okinawa during the Second World War. It was a defeat for former officers who had sued the author Kenzaburo Oe of libel.

Mr Oe, a Nobel laureate, said in his book Okinawa Notes that troops ordered islanders to kill themselves in 1945 rather than surrender to US invaders. During the 83-day Battle of Okinawa, 190,000 Japanese died, half of whom were civilians.

The suit was one reason cited by the Government last year for its decision to change school textbooks to delete references to the military forcing islanders to commit suicides.

“It is recognised that the military was deeply involved in the mass suicides,” the judge at Osaka District Court said. Many residents said that they were given grenades to kill themselves, and there were no suicide pacts where the military was not stationed, he added.

A 91-year-old former garrison commander in Okinawa and the family of another commander said the suicides were voluntary. (AFP)

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