The jury found Schmidheiny, a former majority shareholder in the company, guilty of involuntary manslaughter, according to the Italian ANSA news agency.
The factory worker had been exposed to asbestos, the jury found.
However, Schmidheiny was acquitted in seven other cases involving a company near Naples on Wednesday.
Schmidheiny’s lawyers told the Swiss Keystone-SDA news agency that they would appeal against the verdict, saying the ruling went against Italian law and basic legal principles.
Series of cases
The verdict is the latest in series of court cases in Italy against 74-year-old Schmidheiny who has denied any responsibility.
So far, he has always been cleared by higher courts.
In a high-profile case in 2014, Italy’s Supreme Court acquitted Schmidheiny of any responsibility for the deaths of almost 3,000 people. The judges ruled that the statute of limitations had passed in 1998.
The verdict had prompted an outcry from trade unions, environmental organisations and relatives of the victims.
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Eternit asbestos billionaire sentenced to prison by Turin court
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Stephan Schmidheiny, the former majority shareholder in Italian asbestos company Eternit Genova, has been sentenced to four years in prison.
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Raffaele Guariniello on Monday lodged the request with the justice authorities in Turin, accusing Schmidheiny of premeditated murder in the case of 258 people, according to the Italian Ansa news agency. They lived in regions where the Eternit Genoa Group, with Schmidheiny as main shareholder until 1986, had asbestos factories. Guarinello’s move was expected as…
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The appeals court in Turin convicted Schmidheiny, aged 65, to 18 years in prison. The court also dropped charges against his business partner Jean-Louis Marie Ghislain de Cartier because the Belgian baron died May 21 at the age of 92. Schmidheiny was not present in the courtroom when Monday’s sentence was read, and his Zurich-based spokesperson said at a press…
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Thomas Schmidheiny's decision to stand down from the board of Lafarge-Holcim marks the end of an era for the Swiss industrial dynasty.
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