two-former Eternit executives, on February 13, 2012 in Turin. A Swiss billionaire and a Belgian baron were found guilty and sentenced to 16 years each in prison by an Italian court in a groundbreaking trial over 3,000 alleged asbestos-related deaths.
The development comes after nearly 20 years of legal proceedings against the Swiss Eternit Group’s factories in Italy, which were sold by Schmidheiny in 1986, and which are alleged to have exposed workers and residents to asbestos. That exposure was associated with a large number of deaths due to mesothelioma and other asbestos-related illnesses, the prosecutors claimed.
A spokesperson for Schmidheiny, who maintains his innocence, says she will appeal the verdict. A statement from his lawyer labels the conviction a “miscarriage of justice” and also claims that the verdict violates Italian law. In an email with, Schmidheinhy’s spokesperson Lisa Meyerhans Sarasin spelled out multiple reasons why she believes the verdict is not legal, including double jeopardy.
According to Barry Castleman, an American chemical engineer and expert on the effects of asbestos exposure, who has worked closely with the prosecution team representing the Casale Monferrato victims, the number of those who died following exposure to asbestos in factories formerly owned by Schmidheiny is much larger than the verdict spells out.
“Those [147 deaths] are just the ones that were being brought to trial,” says Castleman, adding that the town of 35,000 people sees 40 to 50 deaths a year from asbestos-related illness. “The whole town has been devastated by this.”
Law Law Latest News, Law Law Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Source: Forbes - 🏆 394. / 53 Read more »