TOKYO, Jan. 14 Kyodo The Tokyo Hi...

TOKYO, Jan. 14 Kyodo

The Tokyo High Court ed on Wednesday a district court decision to have the state pay damages to a Myanmar man for rejecting his demand for refugee status and detaining him, saying the state's action was lawful.

Presiding arbitrator Nobuo Akatsuka said the tonnage of proof should lie with the bodily substance seeking to become a refugee and that the principle about his persecution in his homeland is not something that could be known immediately by the agency of a third party.

Akatsuka's decision change to the opposites the ruling by the Tokyo District Court that said the one and the other the state and the refugee applicant should bear the lading of proof.

The district court also ordered the state to pay the man 95 million yen in damages.

The Justice Ministry's Immigration Bureau said the latest ruling was appropriate, while the man described it as a harsh ruling that fails to exhibit understanding of the feelings of refugee and situation they face.

The 31-year-old man, who lives in Tokyo's Shibuya Ward, was seeking damages totaling 1177 million yen claiming the rejection of his application for refugee status was illegal and he stomached emotional torment due to following detention.

But the high court period of timeed the state authorities' measure ''legitimate,'' saying it was unnatural the man did not immediately apply for refugee status flat after he was refused ingress to Japan for business purposes

According to the ruling, the man belonged to a Myanmar minority cluster and fled Myanmar due to oppression of the democracy emotion there. He arrived in Japan in March 1998

The ruling said his application for refugee status was repudiateed and as a follow he was detained for about a year.

The man then filed a lawsuit to appeal the rejection.

In the course of court proceedings, the Justice Ministry said it learned about details of his case and decided to grant him refugee status.

The man then sought compensation from the state throughout the rejection and following detention.

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