Prosecutors drop charges over Fukushima nuclear disaster via The Telegraph

No-one has been held accountable for the second-worst nuclear accident in history

Local residents and environmental groups have reacted angrily to the announcement that prosecutors have decided to drop the charges for responsibility for the crisis at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant.

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“Absolutely no-one is taking responsibility for this huge accident and when all these people are suffering,” Aileen Mioko-Smith, of Kyoto-based Green Action Japan, told The Telegraph.

“The investigation clearly stated this was an accident created by humans, not a natural disaster, but the judicial system here has now decided to side with the powers-that-be,” she said.

“The government will be happy with the decision, but it is completely irresponsible,” she said. “And I fear that failing to prosecute in this case will lead to another disaster in the future.”

[…]

Prosecutors decided it would be difficult to prove negligence in connection with the disaster and a final appeal against that decision has now been dismissed.

“There are many victims of the accident, but there is no ‘assailant’,” Ruiko Muto, organiser of the rally, told protestors.

“We are determined to keep telling our experiences as victims, to pursue the truth behind the accident and we want to avoid a repeat of the accident in the future,” said 61-year-old Muto, who was evacuated from Kawauchi village after the disaster.

More than 80,000 residents are still unable to return permanently to their homes within the exclusion zone around the plant, with the government warning that it may be decades before life returns to normal in the most seriously contaminated areas.

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