Japan-Fukushima Accident/Lawsuit/Result

Shotlist

Tokyo, Japan – July 13, 2022 (CCTV – No access Chinese mainland)
1. Various of protesters holding banners
2. Various of trial in progress; attendees
3. People reading material
4. People taking photos
5. Various of representative of plaintiffs Masabumi Asada writing, delivering speech
6. SOUNDBITE (Japanese) Masabumi Asada, representative of plaintiffs:
“Some former TEPCO executives have uttered nonsense in many lawsuits against the TEPCO. This time the judge overruled them strongly, delivered a very fair verdict and condemned TEPCO’s various internal problems. I hope that [the TEPCO] can immediately stop discharging the contaminated water.”
7. Defense attorney for plaintiffs Yuichi Kaido delivering speech
8. SOUNDBITE (Japanese) Yuichi Kaido, defense attorney for plaintiffs:
“The verdict will have a far-reaching impact, which is not only on the liability lawsuit of the Japanese government, but also on the criminal responsibility lawsuit of TEPCO’s [former] executives. The ruling will influence all those lawsuits.”
9. Details of written judgment
10. SOUNDBITE (Japanese) Yoshiko Furukawa, victim of Fukushima nuclear disaster:
“My father passed away after the nuclear accident. As water spilled on the ground can’t be gathered up again, I would rather receive an apology from the TEPCO than have the TEPCO return what we have lost. Today’s verdict provides an opportunity to apologize. In a word, I hope the TEPCO will make a sincere apology.”
11. Protesters holding banner, speaking

Storyline

A Tokyo court Wednesday ordered former executives from the operator of Japan’s disaster-hit Fukushima nuclear power plant, Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), to pay about 97 billion U.S. dollars for failing to prevent the disaster.

On March 11, 2011, a magnitude-9.0 earthquake and an ensuing tsunami crashed into the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant on Japan’s eastern Pacific coast, causing three of its six nuclear reactors to melt down.

After the accident, some shareholders of the TEPCO filed a lawsuit in the Tokyo District Court a decade ago, seeking accountability and damages from several former TEPCO executives.

At 15:00 on Wednesday, the Tokyo District Court held four of the five former TEPCO executives who had been sued by plaintiffs liable for the first trial, and ordered them to pay 13.3 trillion yen in damages.

Masabumi Asada, a victim of the Fukushima nuclear accident, is also a plaintiff in the case.

“Some former TEPCO executives have uttered nonsense in many lawsuits against the TEPCO. This time the judge overruled them strongly, delivered a very fair verdict and condemned TEPCO’s various internal problems. I hope that [the TEPCO] can immediately stop discharging the contaminated water,” said Masabumi Asada, the representative of plaintiffs.

The plaintiffs’ lawyers and representatives who entered the court explained the ruling process to other plaintiffs and supporters in front of the Member’s Office Building of the House of Councilors after the ruling was announced.

The written judgment concluded that it was the failure of the four defendants to respond to the tsunami that caused the nuclear accident.

“The verdict will have a far-reaching impact, which is not only on the liability lawsuit of the Japanese government, but also on the criminal responsibility lawsuit of TEPCO’s [former] executives. The ruling will influence all those lawsuits,” said Yuichi Kaido, the defense attorney for plaintiffs.

“My father passed away after the nuclear accident. As water spilled on the ground can’t be gathered up again, I would rather receive an apology from the TEPCO than have the TEPCO return what we have lost. Today’s verdict provides an opportunity to apologize. In a word, I hope the TEPCO will make a sincere apology,” said Yoshiko Furukawa, another victim of the Fukushima nuclear disaster.