Ex-TEPCO leaders plead not guilty in Fukushima nuclear trial
Source: AP
Three former executives of Tokyo Electric Power Co. pleaded not guilty Friday to charges of negligence in the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster.
Former TEPCO Chairman Tsunehisa Katsumata and vice presidents Sakae Muto and Ichiro Takekuro apologized for the disaster and the trouble it caused, but said they don't think they bear criminal responsibility, because they couldn't foresee it.
That issue is expected to be the crux of their trial, the first to consider whether officials of the utility can be held criminally responsible. TEPCO itself has not been charged. The trial got underway at Tokyo District Court and is likely to take more than a year.
Three reactors had meltdowns, and radiation spread into surrounding communities after the nuclear plant north of Tokyo was hit by a powerful earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011. Tens of thousands of residents were forced to evacuate, and some areas remain uninhabitable more than six years later.
Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/tepco-leaders-stand-trial-fukushima-nuclear-disaster-48364503
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