No Nukes Rights! Lawsuit Against The Nuclear Reactor Suppliers

Dear Plaintiffs and Supporters,
We report to you here on the flow of events in the courtroom and thefourth meeting of the oral proceedings on March 23.

Flow of the day’s events
The oral proceedings were conducted from 14:35, but prior to that
the Facilitators Group carried out an appeal action in front of theTokyo District Court from 13:30 to 14:00. A banner was unfurled,
speeches were made declaring the flaws in the CND Act(Compensation for Nuclear Damage Act - same as “Atomic Energy
Damage Compensation Law”) and the liability of the nuclear reactor
suppliers, and leaflets were distributed.
Other than the roughly 70 plaintiffs who had applied in advance forgallery seats, the people who had turned up to observe theproceedings exceeded the remaining gallery capacity of 50. Lots
were therefore drawn for trial observation. This indicates the highdegree of interest in the plaintiffs’ claims in this session, pointing out
defects in the nuclear reactors that led to the nuclear accident andthe questioning of the liability of the reactor suppliers, matters thattouch on the very core of the nuclear power issue.
Court clerks and security personnel standing at the entrance to thecourt numbered more than 30 in a much more ostentatious show of
security than had been seen thus far. About 30 security personnel
were also standing inside and outside the large 103 courtroom once
the trail was about to begin.
The oral proceedings were conducted from 14:35 to 15:45 in front ofa full gallery. The plaintiffs’ representatives gave a 40-minutepresentation of specific flaws in nuclear reactors and other mattersusing PowerPoint. The significance of this case is that while nuclear

accidents are extremely serious and cause untold suffering anddamage, because of the powerful barrier of the CND Act (whichabsolves plant manufacturers from liability) this is the first trial in theworld that has brought to light the flaws of nuclear reactors in thecourtroom. Observers in the gallery were listening to theproceedings with even more enthusiasm than before, but when thechief judge declared at the end, “I hereby close the oral proceedings
today,” the plaintiffs’ representative stated, “We recuse the judges,”
the judges closed the court and hurried out amid angry shouting.
The legal team were scheduled to present detailed claims andevidence showing that there had been changes in the prosecutablefacts for Japan’s CND Act and its unconstitutionality, and therefore
briefs had been prepared by constitutional and civil law researchers.
To declare the end of the oral proceedings, despite the fact thatthese researchers were scheduled to be cross-examined insubsequent proceedings, and without allowing the defending legal
team to conduct a rebuttal, is a total neglect of plaintiffs’ rights, andsince there is the fear that it may not now be possible to obtain a fairtrail the legal team have filed a recusal document against all thejudges.
The recusal document (in Japanese) can be seen at ourwebsite:http://nonukesrights.holy.jp/

For 25 minutes from 16:10, a press conference was held in thepress club on the second floor of the court by the plaintiffs’
representatives Hiroyuki Kawai, Akihiro Shima, and Nobuko Terada
along with plaintiffs Kazue Morizono (Fukushima accident victim)
and Masashi Goto (former Toshiba nuclear plant engineer).

A report meeting was also held from 16:30 to 18:30 in the No.1
Conference Room (BF1) in the No.2 House of Representatives
Building, with about 70 people in attendance.
Attorney Kawai made the powerful statement, “Even if we lose thefirst trial, we will fight the second trial. In the meantime, we will workon raising public opinion. Let’s put up a very strong and tenacious
fight to get rid of every one of the nuclear power plants all around
Japan. We have confidence that we are tackling the most important
issue in Japan today, so let us move forward with this just struggleof national salvation.” Mr. Goto, a former nuclear plant engineer,
praised the legal team by saying, “I have never heard such aneasy-to-understand overall explanation of the flaws of nuclear
power plants as the one we heard in the legal team’s presentation incourt today. It was wonderful.”
It appears that the date for the verdict will be around July 13, but
this is not certain due to the recusal against the judges. Whicheverside wins, there will almost certainly be an appeal to a higher court.
Power of attorney letters for the appeal will be available fordownload from our website at the end of April and we would like to
ask you to sign and send them out to us.
Videos (in Japanese) of the appeal action, press conference, andreport meeting can be seen on the homepage of the Lawsuit
Against The Nuclear Reactor Suppliers.
website: http://nonukesrights.holy.jp/

Below is a (detailed) report on the events in the courtroom on March23.
Overview of the Oral Proceedings
1. Date and time: Wednesday, March 23, 2016, 14:35 to 15:45
2. Place: The Tokyo District Court (Courtroom 103)
3. Attendees: Three judges (Chief Judge Yoshihide Asakura, Judge
Tomoko Takebe, Judge Tatsunosuke Watanabe), stenographer,court clerk, five court security personnel, six plaintiffs’
representatives, six seats for appointed representatives, 14 seats
for the defendants’ representatives, 64 seats for plaintiffs, 48 seatsfor other observers.

4. Content(Court opens: 14:35)
Chief Judge: Confirms the prepared documents and evidence
submitted.
(14:40)
Plaintiffs’ representatives: Statement using PowerPoint.
Attorney Iwanaga: “Structure and mechanism of nuclear powergeneration”
Attorney Shima: “Nuclear reactor flaws”
Attorney Kataguchi: “Gross negligence by the defendants”,“Application of unconstitutionality”(15:25)
Appointed party (Che): Statement using PowerPoint. 1. Claim forcompensation that is not based on CND Act, 2. Request for
separate trial, 3. Urging a response from the defendants to therequest for clarification(15:40)
Defendants’ representatives: Request for immediate end to oralproceedings.
Appointed party (Pak): Request not to end oral proceedings.
Application to bring witnesses (Kazuki Kumamoto, Yoshikazu
Sawano) before the court.
Plaintiffs’ representative (Kawai): We also desire a separate trial.
We will make claims and present evidence concerning prosecutablefacts on unconstitutionality and are currently preparing briefs fromthree researchers and a former nuclear plant engineer. These will
be submitted at the next or following proceedings, and we plan topresent evidence after that, including witness cross-examination.
Defendants’ representative (Okada from GE): The plaintiffs, since
the time when the chief judge was replaced, had said that theclaims would be completed within the year.
Plaintiffs’ representative (Shima): No, we did not say that.
Chief Judge: I hereby close the oral proceedings today.
(Following this, the proceedings are inaudible due to shouting.)
Plaintiffs’ representative (Kawai): We recuse the judges!
Chief Judge: How many of the judges?
Plaintiffs’ representative (Kawai): All three judges.
Chief Judge: You must submit the reasons in writing.
(Court closes: 15:45)

Please see more information in English by clicking the “English” tabathttp://nonukesrights.holy.jp/
Also see the Facebook
page: https://www.facebook.com/nonukesrights2
We have received responses to the “postcard questionnaire in thenormalization of finances” from many plaintiffs (inside Japan). We
will report the result to you in the next newsletter. If you have not yet
replied to the postcard (or to the email we sent out to overseasplaintiffs) we would very much like to ask that you do so as soon as
possible.
Please let us hear your voice in this groundbreaking lawsuit against
the nuclear reactor suppliers!
Overseas Plaintiffs Manager, Facilitators Group for the Lawsuit
against the Nuclear Reactor Suppliers---------------------------------------

Lawsuit Against The Nuclear Reactor Suppliers
Email address: information_overseas@nonukesrights.holy.jp
Postal address: Overseas Plaintiffs Manager, Facilitators GroupC/O R-Rights Law Office, 3rd Floor, 3-9-10 Ginza, Chuo-ku, Tokyo,
104-0045 Japan