TEPCO's former management team acquittal focus on whether to appeal September 20th 4:56

In a trial in which three former TEPCO management teams were forcibly charged over the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, the Tokyo District Court acquitted all three of them on the 19th. The focus will be whether or not to appeal.

TEPCO's former chairman Tsunehisa Katsumata (79), former vice president Ichiro Takeguro (73), and former vice president Eimu Muto (69) were forced to vote on the prosecution screening committee over the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. On March 19, all three were acquitted in the Tokyo District Court.

The ruling was to dismiss the assertion of the designated lawyer as the prosecutor, and said, “It is not recognized that there was a possibility of predicting the occurrence of a huge tsunami”.

“At the time before the earthquake, legal regulations and national guidelines did not require absolute safety. TEPCO's nuclear safety measures from government agencies and experts "I can't see the fact that there was a clear denial," he pointed out.

The designated lawyer criticized the decision yesterday at the meeting yesterday: “It is a ruling on the nuclear administration of the country. There is no court judgment that nuclear power is not required for absolute safety.”

Whether or not to appeal will be considered from now on, and in the future, the focus will be on whether or not a designated attorney acting as a public prosecutor will appeal.

Regarding future trials, Professor Hiroshi Otsuka of Meiji University Law School, who specializes in criminal law and is familiar with negligent criminal responsibility, said, “If we can show that the consequences of damage may have changed due to some measure other than stopping the nuclear power plant. , The court ’s judgment may change. ”