In what environmental advocates called a “major step” toward justice against corporate crime, three former executives with the Tokyo Electronic Power Company (TEPCO) on Monday were indicted on negligence charges over their roles in the 2011 nuclear meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant.

“I’m full of emotion,” said Ruiko Muto, head of a campaign group that is pushing for a Fukushima trial, during a press conference on Monday. “This will be a great encouragement for hundreds of thousands of nuclear accident victims who are still suffering and facing hardship.”

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Ex-TEPCO chair Tsunehisa Katsumata and former vice presidents Sakae Muto and Ichiro Takekuro were charged with professional negligence over allegedly failing to take measures to protect the plant, despite being aware of elevated tsunami risks, in what became the worst nuclear accident since the Chernobyl meltdown in 1986.

The three were not taken into custody, but will face the first criminal action in connection with the disaster which forced the evacuation of 160,000 residents, many of whom are still unable to return. If convicted, the men face up to five years in prison or a fine of up to one million yen ($8,865).

Prosecutors moved forward with the charges after a civilian judiciary panel ruled in July for the second time that the executives should be put on trial.

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