Three former executives of Tokyo Electric Power Co. will stand trial over the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster after an independent judicial panel of citizens on July 31 again decided that mandatory indictments are warranted.
Three former executives of Tokyo Electric Power Co. will stand trial over the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster after an independent judicial panel of citizens on July 31 again decided that mandatory indictments are warranted.
It will be the first time for TEPCO or government officials to stand formally accused of professional negligence resulting in death and injury in the nuclear crisis that was triggered by the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami in March 2011.
The Tokyo No. 5 Committee for the Inquest of Prosecution for the second time rejected prosecutors’ decision not to indict the three--former TEPCO Chairman Tsunehisa Katsumata and two former vice presidents, Sakae Muto and Ichiro Takekuro.
Based on the committee’s decision, three court-appointed lawyers will indict the three and serve as prosecutors in the trial.
After the crisis unfolded at TEPCO’s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, residents and citizens groups filed criminal complaints with prosecutors against senior TEPCO and government officials.
They argued that the three TEPCO executives failed to fulfill their responsibility to implement necessary safety measures at the plant before the disaster, leading to the deaths of hospital patients during the evacuation and other tragedies.
In September 2013, the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office decided not to indict the three former TEPCO executives.
The inquest committee handed down its first decision in July 2014, calling for indictments, but the prosecutors office again said there was not enough evidence to charge the three.
That led to the committee’s second examination of the case.
A decision for mandatory indictment requires approval from at least eight members of the 11-member committee.