TEPCO trio cleared over Fukushima

Court finds ex-executives not guilty of negligence relating to nuclear disaster

Three former executives of Tokyo Electric Power Company, or TEPCO, were acquitted on Thursday on charges of failing to prevent the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster, meaning no one will be held criminally responsible for the world's worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl in 1986.

In a much-anticipated verdict, the Tokyo District Court ruled that former TEPCO chairman Tsunehisa Katsumata, 79, and former vice-presidents Ichiro Takekuro, 73, and Sakae Muto, 69, were not guilty of professional negligence resulting in death and injury when the March 2011 nuclear accident was triggered by a tsunami.