Asbestos trial in Turin: 16 years in prison for Eternal officials
Hundreds of relatives of asbestos victims had travelled to Turin to hear the long-awaited verdict. Some carried an Italian flag on their shoulders that read "Eternit Justice." When the verdict was announced, delivered in a blazing silence, relatives of the victims burst into tears. They did not make the trip for nothing: the Turin court sentenced Mr. Schmidheiny, a major shareholder of Eternal Italy from 1976 to 1986, to 16 years in prison, and the Belgian baron Jean-Louis de Cartier de Marchiennes, shareholder and director of Eternit, on trial in absentia. They were considered responsible for the deaths of 3,000 people in Italy, workers or inhabitants of the cities where Eternit had factories. Compensation for the civil parties is expected to reach a total of tens of millions of euros.
The reactions were not long in coming. The Italian Minister of Health, Renato Balduzzi, described the sentence as "historic both for the social aspects and for its technical and legal aspects", stressing that it "crowns a long battle that has seen the state alongside the victims at all institutional levels." Prosecutor Raffaele Guariniello, who has been investigating for more than five years, said that "this is a historic trial, the largest in the world in the history of workplace safety." It remains to be seen whether the convicts will meet their obligations. The accused can still appeal, giving rise to a lengthy procedure that can delay a final judgment to a very long distance.
Hope for French victims
Coming to show their solidarity with the Italian victims, members of French associations of asbestos victims were also in the crowd today in Turin. The announcement of the verdict inevitably refers to the French situation, where no asbestos trial has been successful. And revives hope. The French lawyer, Jean-Paul Teissonnière, has announced that he will ask the "judicial authorities in France to draw the consequences: why what is possible in Italy is not possible in France?"
The reactions were not long in coming. The Italian Minister of Health, Renato Balduzzi, described the sentence as "historic both for the social aspects and for its technical and legal aspects", stressing that it "crowns a long battle that has seen the state alongside the victims at all institutional levels." Prosecutor Raffaele Guariniello, who has been investigating for more than five years, said that "this is a historic trial, the largest in the world in the history of workplace safety." It remains to be seen whether the convicts will meet their obligations. The accused can still appeal, giving rise to a lengthy procedure that can delay a final judgment to a very long distance.
Hope for French victims
Coming to show their solidarity with the Italian victims, members of French associations of asbestos victims were also in the crowd today in Turin. The announcement of the verdict inevitably refers to the French situation, where no asbestos trial has been successful. And revives hope. The French lawyer, Jean-Paul Teissonnière, has announced that he will ask the "judicial authorities in France to draw the consequences: why what is possible in Italy is not possible in France?"