Eight years after he jumped to his death from a Tokyo hotel window, the family of Shigeo Nishimura brought his former employer to court Wednesday, saying Nishimura was driven to suicide by being ``forced to lie'' about a nuclear accident.

Nishimura, 49, was in charge of an in-house probe into a massive sodium coolant leak in December 1995 at the prototype fast-breeder reactor Monju, operated by the Power Reactor and Nuclear Fuel Development Corp. (Donen).

The deputy chief of Donen's administrative division, Nishimura killed himself the morning after a Jan. 12, 1996, news conference at which he released false results of the investigation into whether the company had tried to cover up the seriousness of the accident.

Although no radiation leaked, the accident shattered public trust in the safety of the reactor in Tsuruga, Fukui Prefecture, which has since been shut down.

Nishimura's family is now suing Donen's successor, the Japan Nuclear Cycle Development Institute (JNC), at the Tokyo District Court, seeking 148 million yen in damages for forcing Nishimura to make false reports.

The plaintiffs claim Nishimura was forced to say he learned of the head office's involvement in cover-up attempts on Jan. 10, although his memos suggest he found out on Dec. 25 that head office managers had already seen incriminating video footage on Dec. 9.

Donen was accused of trying to hide video footage of the accident site taken on Dec. 9, the day after the leakage. A four-minute edited version was released as ``raw footage,'' and other false reports were made.

Nishimura left several suicide notes, including one addressed to then Donen President Hiroshi Oishi. In the notes, he expressed regret for what he said at the news conference.

Oishi himself had earlier told reporters that top head office executives were not aware of the existence of the raw video footage.

Former Donen executives insist Nishimura decided on his own to make the comments he did and that Oishi had instructed them to tell the truth.

JNC declined to comment at this stage.

Nishimura's 58-year-old wife said the family sued the company ``because Donen had given no satisfactory explanation.''

The family also insists that a five-page fax sent from Donen hours before Nishimura's death has disappeared and that Oishi changed the wording of Nishimura's suicide note when he read it out at a news conference later.(IHT/Asahi: October 14,2004) (10/14)