Victims of Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant Disaster Bring Charges against TEPCO and the Government

In the former half of October, meetings were held across the country to inform general public of the criminal complaint that accuses of TEPCO executives and experts of Nuclear Safety Commission regarding the March 2011 meltdown disaster of Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant. Residents of Fukushima organized a group in March this year and 1.324 of them filed  a criminal complaint with Fukushima District Public Prosecutor's Office on 11 June. The complaint was accepted on 1 August. Investigation is expected to start soon. In order to press the case strongly, the accusers have been calling for participation of a greater number of people since August. In the meeting that was held in Kameido, Tokyo, on 6 October, the leading accuser MUTO Ruiko spoke to the participants. "With the accident occurred in Chernobyl in 1986, we learnt that an accident at a nuclear power plant would be a catastrophe. Spent nuclear fuels and the enormous amount of radioactive waste that was brought about as a result of the disaster at Fukushima No.1 plant have been imposed upon younger generations. We want to examine thoroughly what our society and the government have been doing with the atomic energy and find out what went wrong. This is why we decided to file a criminal complaint. And we want to do so together with many people. All the residents in Japan  have been affected by the disaster in Fukushima. We urge you to regard the issue as your own and join the legal case." (By OZAWA Kuniko)

福島原発事故の責任をただす！～「福島原発告訴団」説明会

10 月6日、東京の亀戸で行われた「福島原発告訴団」の説明会に参加しました。今年3月、福島原発告訴団が結成され、6月11日、1324人が福島地方検察庁 に告訴しました。8月1日に受理され、これから捜査が始まります。事故の責任を大勢の人たちで訴えていきたいと8月から全国の人びとに告訴団入会がよびか けられています。武藤さんは「チェルノブイリの事故で原発の恐ろしさを知った。使用済み核燃料や今回の事故で出た大量の放射性廃棄物は、若い人や子どもた ちに押しつけることになる。この国のあり方、原子力行政のあり方を問いたい。そんな思いで告訴を呼びかけています。みなさんも自分の問題として、被害者の一人として告訴団に加わってほしい」と訴えました。（尾澤邦子）