Japan court acquits ex-TEPCO executives

TOKYO (Reuters) — A Tokyo court cleared on Thursday three former Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco) executives of negligence for the 2011 Fukushima disaster, the only criminal case to arise out of the world’s worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl in 1986.

Former Tepco Chairman Tsunehisa Katsumata and one-time executives Sakae Muto and Ichiro Takekuro were all found not guilty by the Tokyo District Court. Dressed in dark suits and ties, the defendants sat in silence as Presiding Judge Kenichi Nagafuchi read the judgment.

A woman sitting in the public gallery, where about 100 people were seated, shouted “unbelievable,” on hearing the verdict. Outside the court were displaced residents and protesters.

The trial, which started in June 2017, was conducted by state-appointed lawyers after prosecutors decided not to bring charges. Legal experts had said it was unlikely the three former executives of Japan’s biggest power provider would be found guilty, given prosecutors had decided not to take the case to trial.

The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear station, located about 220 km northeast of Tokyo, was rocked by a magnitude 9.0 earthquake and subsequent tsunami in March 2011, sparking three reactor meltdowns and prompting Japan to shut down its entire fleet of nuclear reactors.

More than 160,000 residents fled nearby towns in the aftermath as radiation from the reactors contaminated water, food and air.

Lawyers acting as prosecutors said the three executives had access to data and studies anticipating the risk to the area from a tsunami exceeding 10 meters in height that could trigger a power loss and cause a nuclear disaster.

Judge Nagafuchi ruled that to hold the executives responsible for criminal negligence the prosecuting lawyers had to prove it was possible to predict tsunamis.