A Japanese court has found three former executives of Fukushima nuclear plant operator Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco) not guilty of professional negligence during the disaster.
The former Tepco executives faced criminal charges after a plant was hit by a tsunami that caused a triple meltdown. The tsunami's damage include the evacuation of over 470,000 people and the death or disappearance of almost 18,500 people.
While no death was directly caused by the nuclear meltdown, 44 hospital patients died after having to be rushed out of the evacuation zone while 13 others were injured in hydrogen explosions at the plant.
The former executives, namely chairman Tsunehisa Katsumata, 79 years old, and vice-presidents Sakae Muto, 69 years old and Ichiro Takekuro, 73 years old, were found not guilty of failing to implement tsunami countermeasures during the Fukushima nuclear meltdown. If convicted, they would have faced five years of jail time.
According to the prosecution, as early as 2002, the executives have received warnings that a large tsunami of more than 15 meters could hit the plant, but they chose to ignore it and opted not to increase their defenses.
Prior to the ruling, dozens of protesters gathered outside the court in Tokyo. One of the protesters, Saki Okawara, traveled from the Fukushima region to hear the ruling. Okawara said "If we don't hear guilty verdicts, our years-long efforts to bring this to court will not have been rewarded. And Japanese society's culture of no-one taking responsibility will continue."
The trial began in June 2017 after a judicial panel ruled against the request of prosecutors not to press criminal charges against the former executives, claiming that there was little chance of success.
The 2011 nuclear meltdown has led to a complete shutdown of all nuclear reactors in Japan but some have reopened after passing special safety checks.
Various legal cases seeking compensation over the disaster have been filed against Tepco after several workers developed illnesses from the Fukushima plant cleanup.
