Nearly 6,000 Fukushima residents in 2012 filed the criminal complaint, accusing several former TEPCO executives, including Katsumata, of professional negligence in the death of more than 40 elderly patients during or after forced evacuations in the aftermath of the meltdown, which released large amounts of radiation to the surroundings.

After prosecutors dropped the case, Katsumata and two other former executives were indicted in 2016 by a citizens’ inquest of prosecution and forced to stand trial in the only criminal case related to the Fukushima disaster.