Members of the defense team and supporters for a man who claims he was forcibly sterilized enter the Tokyo District Court to file a lawsuit on May 17, 2018. Two men and a woman filed lawsuits in Sapporo, Sendai and Tokyo district courts on the same day in connection with forced sterilizations that were performed on intellectually disabled people and others under the now-defunct Eugenic Protection Law. The plaintiffs, all in their 70s and living in Hokkaido, Miyagi Prefecture and Tokyo, are demanding the government pay compensation. They claim they were forced to undergo sterilization without their consent, which infringed on their human rights. According to the health ministry, sterilization operations were performed on at least 24,991 people under the defunct law. Of this number, operations were performed on 16,475 people without their consent.A nationwide support group of lawyers is expected to be formed on May 27.( The Yomiuri Shimbun )