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Demonstration by anti-Tepco activists: Supreme judges see no wrongdoing
Photo: ISSEI KATO / REUTERS
Twelve years after the Fukushima nuclear disaster, the Supreme Court in Japan has confirmed the acquittal of three ex-managers of the power plant operator Tepco.
The decision was announced by activists outside the courthouse on Wednesday who had campaigned for the three men to be prosecuted.
The court itself initially refused to comment on the decision with reference to the ongoing hearing.
A Tokyo court declared the three ex-managers innocent in 2019.
The Supreme Court has now confirmed the lower court's assessment that the Tepco managers could not be accused of any misconduct in connection with the accident.
The Tepco managers could therefore not have foreseen that a tsunami with waves of more than ten meters could hit and damage the power plant.
thousands of deaths
Shortly after a severe seaquake on March 11, 2011, the Fukushima nuclear power plant by the sea was hit by an almost 15 meter high tsunami.
The power plant's cooling system failed, and core meltdowns occurred in three of the six reactors.
It was the worst nuclear accident since the Chernobyl disaster of 1986. Around 18,500 people died as a result of the tsunami.
No one was killed on the day of the accident as a result of the nuclear catastrophe itself.
According to the Japanese authorities, however, it is indirectly responsible for thousands of deaths.
These are due to the deterioration in the living conditions of the many people who have been resettled from the region.
The nuclear accident made parts of the area around the power plant uninhabitable, and it is estimated that it will take up to 40 years to dismantle the reactors.
The acquittal of the three former Tepco managers in 2019 had already caused outrage, especially among former residents of the region around the nuclear power plant.
In a civil lawsuit last year, however, the three men and another Tepco manager were sentenced to pay billions.
According to lawyers, this was the highest compensation ever awarded in a civil lawsuit in Japan.
However, the sum is of a symbolic nature, since the amount far exceeds the financial possibilities of the defendant.
If convicted, the managers could face up to five years in prison.
The prosecution had accused them of joint responsibility for the deaths of 44 patients from a hospital near the nuclear power plant, who had to be transferred after the disaster at the Fukushima nuclear power plant.
mike/AFP