Lawmakers blast UC over Japanese bones

BERKELEY, Calif., Aug. 19 (UPI) -- Some California state lawmakers say the University of California should immediately return its collection of remains of World War II Japanese soldiers.

The skulls and bones held by the university were gathered from the scene of the 1944 Battle of Saipan and are being stored in an anthropology museum on the UC-Berkeley campus, the San Francisco Chronicle reported Wednesday.

"What they've been doing is absolutely horrific," Democratic state Sen. Gloria Romero, chairwoman of the Senate Education Committee, told the newspaper. "These were human lives with families and children. They're not simply artifacts for some experiment. UC officials have long thought they were above California law, but now we learn that they believe that they are also above international law."

The Chronicle said UC-Berkeley Chancellor Robert Birgeneau and UC President Mark Yudof declined to comment.

The newspaper reported Sunday that some of the remains belong to Japanese soldiers who committed suicide rather than be captured at Saipan.