HIROSHIMA, July 31 Kyodo, Seven atomic bomb survivors' groups in Hiroshima Prefecture called for the realization of a nuclear-free world on Monday at a rally attracting some 400 people.

''Though nuclear abolition or a world without war have not been realized, let's study the past and add momentum to a bright future,'' said Sunao Tsuboi, who leads one of the groups, during the gathering held in the city of Hiroshima, which was the target of a U.S. atomic bomb on Aug. 6, 1945.

Also attending the gathering was Miyoko Tando, 74, one of the 41 plaintiffs who filed a lawsuit against the state seeking to be certified by the government as sufferers of illnesses caused by atomic bomb radiation.

The Hiroshima District Court will hand down its ruling on Friday ahead of the 61st anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

The ruling will be the second of its kind among a series of class action lawsuits filed by about 180 people at 15 district courts across the nation. The first ruling handed down at the Osaka District Court in May ruled in favor of the plaintiffs.

Tando, explaining how she was buried in the rubble of her house after the atomic bomb exploded about 1.2 kilometers away, expressed her hope of winning the lawsuit.

The seven survivors' groups that held the rally include those representing South Korean and North Korean atomic bomb survivors.

2006-08-01 14:25:31JST