Monday, February 29, 2016
Ex-TEPCO
Bosses Indicted in 'Major Step' for Justice in Fukushima
Trial could reveal undisclosed information
about the disaster that TEPCO has worked to keep under wraps
Nuclear experts visit the TEPCO Fukushima
plant for decommissioning. (Photo: IAEA Imagebank/flickr/cc)
In what environmental advocates called a
"major step" toward justice against corporate crime, three former
executives with the Tokyo Electronic Power Company (TEPCO) on Monday were indicted on negligence charges over their
roles in the 2011 nuclear meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi
power plant.
"I'm full of emotion," said Ruiko Muto, head of a campaign group
that is pushing for a Fukushima trial, during a press conference on Monday.
"This will be a great encouragement for hundreds of thousands of nuclear
accident victims who are still suffering and facing hardship."
Ex-TEPCO chair Tsunehisa Katsumata and former
vice presidents Sakae Muto and Ichiro Takekuro were charged with professional
negligence over allegedly failing to take measures to protect the plant,
despite being aware of elevated tsunami risks, in what became the worst nuclear
accident since the Chernobyl meltdown in 1986.
The three were not taken into custody, but
will face the first criminal action in connection with the disaster which
forced the evacuation of 160,000 residents, many of whom are still unable to
return. If convicted, the men face up to five years in prison or a fine of up
to one million yen ($8,865).
Prosecutors moved forward with the charges
after a civilian judiciary panel ruled in July for the second time that the
executives should be put on trial.
Environmental group Greenpeace said the case was a "major step
forward."
"The people of Fukushima and Japan
deserve justice. The court proceedings that will now follow should reveal the
true extent of TEPCO's and the Japanese regulatory system's enormous failure to
protect the people of Japan," said Greenpeace Japan deputy program
director Hisayo Takada.
The trial, which is not expected
to begin for at least six months, could reveal undisclosed information about
the disaster that TEPCO has worked to keep under wraps, while Japan's nuclear
regulatory agency and President Shinzo Abe continue to push for restarts on reactors without addressing
safety issues, the group said.
"TEPCO and the Japanese regulator
continue to ignore demands to disclose key details of what they know about the
causes of the accident," Takada said. "The hundred thousand people
who still can't return home deserve to have all the facts."
Kendra Ulrich, senior global energy
campaigner, added, "Japan’s nuclear regulator continues to look the other
way on major safety issues. The government continues to press ahead with
nuclear restarts despite unresolved safety problems that put the public at
risk. It’s time to break free from nuclear and embrace the only safe and clean
technology that can meet Japan’s needs—renewable energy."
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"The master class
has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles.
The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject
class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their
lives." Eugene Victor Debs
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