Japan court acquits utility executives in Fukushima disaster

By MARI YAMAGUCHI
Associated Press

TOKYO (AP) — A Japanese court has found three former utility company executives not guilty of negligence over the 2011 Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster and the subsequent deaths of more than 40 elderly residents during their forced evacuation. The Tokyo High Court upheld a 2019 lower court decision that also acquitted the three former top officials of Tokyo Electric Power Company, saying that a tsunami of the size that hit the plant was unforeseeable. The acquittal follows a series of divisive decisions in civil lawsuits and disappointed and angered dozens of Fukushima residents and their supporters who attended the ruling or gathered outside the court.