Panel decides 3 former TEPCO executives should face negligence charges over nuclear crisis

A Japanese judicial committee has decided to send three former utility executives to criminal court for their alleged negligence in the Fukushima nuclear disaster.

A document released Friday showed the committee voted in favor of indicting Tsunehisa Katsumata, who was chairman of Tokyo Electric Power Co. at the time of the crisis, along with two other TEPCO executives.

The 11-member committee's second decision supporting the indictment overrides Tokyo prosecutors' two earlier decisions to drop the case, forcing the three men to be charged with professional negligence. It's the first criminal case from the nuclear disaster.

Three reactors had meltdowns at the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant damaged in the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami, triggering massive radiation leaks that forced tens of thousands of people to evacuate.