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2015 July 29 - August 4 TOP3 [SOCIAL ISSUES]

Ex-TEPCO executives will be indicted for 2011 Fukushima disaster

A citizens’ inquest panel again ruled that three former executives of Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) should be indicted over the 2011 meltdown accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, Akahata on July 31 reported.

In accordance with the ruling by the inquest panel, court-appointed lawyers in the place of state prosecutors will bring charges against the three.

The Tokyo No.5 committee for the Inquest of Prosecution, an independent judicial panel, in its ruling acknowledged that former TEPCO Chairman Katsumata Tsunehisa and two other top officials could have predicted that a tsunami of more than 15 meters in height could hit the Fukushima plant, submerge the facility, and cause a serious accident. The committee pointed out that the 2011 disaster could have been avoided if the plant operator took necessary measures against possible tsunamis, but the utility neglected to do so. It concluded that the three executives should be prosecuted for professional negligence resulting in death.

In 2012, Fukushima residents filed with the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office complaints against 33 TEPCO executives including Katsumata for criminal charges over the Fukushima nuclear meltdown. The prosecutors’ office, however, decided to not indict the 33 TEPCO executives and the residents appealed this decision to the inquest panel of randomly-selected citizens. It ordered the prosecution authority to reinvestigate the case. Since the prosecutor’s office again declined to bring charges against them, the citizens’ panel was again asked whether the three TEPCO executives should be indicted.

Past related article:
> Citizens’ panel: ex-TEPCO executives should be indicted for Fukushima disaster [August 1, 2014]