TEPCO Three Executives Acquitted of Criminal Negligence

On September 19, 2019, the Tokyo District Court acquitted three former TEPCO executives — Chairman Tsunehisa Katsumata, former Vice President Ichiro Takekuro, and former Vice President Sakae Muto — of professional negligence resulting in death and injury, finding that they could not have foreseen and prevented the accident. The case was the only criminal trial arising from the disaster. Prosecutors had argued that TEPCO executives had been warned as early as 2008 about a potential large tsunami but failed to act. The verdict was widely criticized by victims' groups and survivors who had campaigned for accountability.