Arab News Japan

TOKYO: Several hundred demonstrators on Tuesday formed a human chain around the Tokyo High Court where the three members of Tepco’s executive committee will appear on charges of criminal negligence in connection with the Fukushima nuclear accident.

Plaintiffs in the Fukushima region have brought photos of relatives who have died of cancer, including a young female activist who was among 15,000 plaintiffs in the first criminal negligence trial in 2019.  A woman brought a photo of a man who worked in a mushroom farm who died of bone cancer without doctors being able to establish whether radiation exposure caused his cancer.

When the group of lawyers spoke to the audience, they were pleased that prosecutors were able to visit the nuclear power plant and were able to show evidence of the negligence that caused the accident, during the first trial.  The judges did not visit the site.

Hiroyuki Kawai, one of the lawyers for the plaintiffs, noted that in every criminal investigation, judges and prosecutors always go to the crime scene to try to understand how the crime unfolded.

In 2019, the Tokyo District Court rendered an innocent verdict on the three indicted, and lawyers and plaintiffs complained about the “unfair judgment.” During this first trial, Kawai asked the judges to visit the nuclear plant but they said it was not necessary.