Feb 3 10:16 PM US/Eastern
(AP) - YOKOHAMA, Feb. 4 (Kyodo)—The Yokohama District Court ordered the state Thursday to pay compensation to the relatives of five now-deceased men for falsely imprisoning them in the "Yokohama Incident," often described as Japan's worst case of repression of free speech during World War II.
Thursday's decision is deemed as a de facto acquittal because when the court dismissed the retrial case of one of the five in March last year without judging him guilty or not guilty, it said his dignity would be restored if the state compensates him for false imprisonment.
The former defendants, including three journalists, were convicted in August-September 1945 of pro-Communist activities based on a wartime law.
The relatives have said the case was fabricated by "tokko" political police officers and their confessions were forced using torture.
The court dismissed the retrial of Yasuhito Ono, a former magazine editor, in March 2009, without giving any verdict, while the Supreme Court dismissed the retrials of four others in March 2008.
The relatives of the five filed a suit with the district court in April-May last year demanding state compensation of some 47 million yen.
About 60 people were arrested in connection with the Yokohama incident. Some 30 of them were convicted.
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