Wednesday, May 23, 2001
|
At the Prime Minister's Official Residence, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi met with representatives of the plaintiffs in a court case concerning Hansen's disease patients.
At the outset the Prime Minister shook hands with each of the representatives. In response to the representatives of the plaintiffs' requests for the government to halt an appeal over the ruling in their court case, the Prime Minister stated, "Bearing in mind what you have said today, I will seriously and solemnly make a judgment." Subsequently, Prime Minister Koizumi announced that the court ruling in this case was taken very seriously and in a very rare exception, the government would not be launching an appeal. |