http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/tepco-execs-face-criminal-charges-nuclear-crisis-32800319

3 Ex-TEPCO Execs to Face Criminal Charges in Nuclear Crisis
TOKYO — Jul 31, 2015, 7:34 AM ET
Associated Press

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A document released Friday showed the committee voted in favor of indicting Tsunehisa Katsumata, who was chairman of Tokyo Electric Power Co. at the time of the crisis, along with two other former executives.

The 11-member committee's second decision supporting the indictment overrides Tokyo prosecutors' two earlier decisions to drop the case, forcing the three men to be charged with professional negligence. It will be the first criminal case from the nuclear disaster to be tried in court.

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The committee said the three men neglected to take sufficient measures even though they were fully aware of the risk of a major tsunami at the Fukushima plant. It said they should be charged with professional negligence resulting in death and injury during the accident and its aftermath, including the deaths of dozens of senior citizens in a hospital who died during and after the lengthy evacuation.

The Tokyo District Court will now choose a team of lawyers to act as prosecutors to formally press charges in court.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/01/world/asia/3-former-tepco-executives-to-be-prosecuted-in-fukushima-nuclear-disaster.html?_r=0

3 Former Executives to Be Prosecuted in Fukushima Nuclear Disaster
By JONATHAN SOBLEJULY 31, 2015

TOKYO — In the first criminal prosecutions of officials connected to the Fukushima nuclear plant disaster of 2011, the Japanese authorities said on Friday that they would move forward with cases against three former executives of the Tokyo Electric Power Company, the owner of the plant where reactors melted down after a devastating tsunami.

The move was a victory for citizens’ groups that have been pursuing charges against dozens of officials at Tokyo Electric Power, known as Tepco, and the government, with no success until now. Prosecutors had twice rejected requests to indict the three former Tepco executives, but a review board overruled their decision on Friday and ordered that charges be brought.

“We had given up hope that there would be a criminal trial,” said Ruiko Muto, an opponent of nuclear power who leads the Fukushima Nuclear Disaster Plaintiffs Group, an umbrella organization representing about 15,000 people, including residents displaced by the accident and their supporters. “We’ve finally gotten this far.”

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It was the second time that such a panel, known as a committee for the inquest of prosecution, had determined that the former executives should be prosecuted. The first panel delivered its conclusion last year, after the Tokyo district prosecutors’ office rejected a criminal complaint against the executives filed by the plaintiffs group.

The prosecutors declined to act on the first panel’s recommendation, but the plaintiffs group appealed, and a second and final panel was convened. Under the rules governing the review panels, the second panel’s decision is binding on prosecutors.

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