Three former executives of Fukushima nuclear plant face trial due to their negligence resulting to disaster.
An independent judicial committee announced that the three plant operator executives should stand trial and face the consequences for their alleged actions during the disaster.
The men should be charged with professional negligence resulting in death and injury during the accident and its aftermath, including deaths of thousands of citizens said the judicial panel.
Tsunehisa Katsumata the chairman of the Tokyo Electric Power Co. at that time, along with two other former executives are at the radar for not taking sufficient preventive measures during the crisis.
It will be the first case to be tried in court from the 2011 nuclear disaster. Previously the prosecutors attempted twice to press criminal charges against the culprits but failed to pursue the case due to insufficient evidence.
“This is very unusual case. The hurdles to conviction are high,” Nobuo Gohara, a former prosecutor.
In March 2011, Fukushima Daiichi plant faced a series of meltdowns following a massive tsunami. The deadly tsunami triggered by a 9.0 magnitude offshore earthquake, which overran the emergency power supplies at the nuclear plant. Thus, three reactors had meltdown due to the failure of cooling systems.
Tens of thousands of people evacuated their homes and farms due to the fear of substantial amounts of radiation leak into the surrounding area. These citizens are unlikely to return to their ancestral properties due to the dangers posed by the harmful radiations.
More than 15,000 people died and almost 2,500 are still listed as missing. However, none of the fatalities have been linked to the nuclear reactor crisis. Although, there were number of casualties occurred during the emergency evacuation of the nearby areas. IMAGE/nytimes
