Past special courts for leprosy patients in Japan ruled unconstitutional
(WorldNews Japan)

A Japanese court on Wednesday ruled for the first time that special courts for segregated leprosy patients set up outside of standard courtrooms in the past were unconstitutional. The Kumamoto District Court made the judgment in handing down a ruling on a damages suit filed by former patients related to the execution of another patient of Hansen`s disease in the 1960s. `The trial at the special court violated the personal rights (of the executed patient), was an unreasonable discrimination based on the fact that he suffered from leprosy, and violated Articles 13 and 14...