Japan court orders gov't to pay families of leprosy patients

June 28 (UPI) -- A Japanese court ordered the government to pay $3.4 million to more than 500 descendants of leprosy patients who were segregated and quarantined in sanitariums for decades.

The Kumamoto District Court ruled Friday 561 family members are due compensation for discrimination and stigma their relatives faced being isolated because of the disease.

The lawsuit was initially filed in 2016.

Leprosy, also known as Hansen's disease, is now curable. But from 1907 to 1996, Japan's Leprosy Prevention Law required people with the disease to be isolated from the rest of society, sometimes in sanitariums.

In 2001, the same court ruled the policy unconstitutional and ordered the state to pay former patients, but not their relatives. That changed with Friday's ruling.

The Japanese government argued the statute of limitations had run out for victims seeking damages. The Kumamoto court rejected the argument and said the law should've been struck down decades ago.

The son of a female leprosy patient was denied damages in 2015 because the statute of limitations had run out. Appellate courts have upheld the ruling and the son is appealing to the Spanish Supreme Court.