Swiss businessman gets prison term for asbestos deaths

Schmidheiny was on trial in connection with the deaths of 91 people in or near an Eternit factory in Piedmont. Keystone

Stephan Schmidheiny has been sentenced to 9 years and 6 months in prison by the Turin Court of Appeal in a case against the former Eternit executive over deaths linked to asbestos exposure in Italy. At the first instance, he was sentenced to 12 years' imprisonment.

The trial followed the deaths of 91 people as a result of exposure to asbestos in the Eternit factories in Casale Monferrato, in the northern region of Piedmont. The public prosecutor’s office had requested a conviction for manslaughter, but the appeal judges ruled that involuntary manslaughter had been committed, the Italian news agency ANSA reported on Thursday.

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Schmidheiny’s defence team announced it would appeal the verdict. “For many of the contested charges, the acquittal was pronounced because the fact does not exist. This means that the structure built by the prosecution continues to collapse”, said Astolfo di Amato, one of the businessman’s lawyers.

In a statement sent to news agency Keystone-SDA, the defendant’s defence team notes that “Stephan Schmidheiny is not responsible for the asbestos tragedy at Casale Monferrato”. It stressed the “absence of direct evidence” and pointed out that “Mr Schmidheiny had launched a programme to get rid of asbestos, which was still legal in Italy at the time, as early as 1976.”

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At the same time, the company was “pursuing a humanitarian programme to compensate victims, with more than 2,000 people receiving compensation”.

The laywers concluded: “This case reopens the debate: [should there be] individual criminal justice or collective responsibility in the face of a global health tragedy?”

‘Justice has been done’

On the other side of the argument, the National Asbestos Observatory, which joined forces with lawyer Andrea Ferrero Merlino as a civil party, expressed its satisfaction in an interview with askanews. The sentence “does justice to the many deaths from mesothelioma [a rare form of cancer] and other asbestos-related illnesses that have affected workers and residents in areas close to the Eternit factory over the years”, the organisation said.

+ Curtain falls on Schmidheiny era

The verdict comes “after years of legal battles and gives a voice to the victims of asbestos. It recognises the seriousness of what happened”, the Observatory added. “The conviction does not erase the pain, but it does affirm a fundamental principle: people’s lives and health come first. It is a strong signal that those who pollute, who cover up [and] who put profit before safety cannot go unpunished.”

Ezio Bonanni, a lawyer and chairperson of the National Asbestos Observatory, added: “Our deepest respect goes out today to those who have fought for years, often in silence.”

+ Asbestos removal work still progressing slowly in Switzerland

Another judgement, handed down by the Novara Assize Court, pointed to serious breaches of safety standards in the workplace (in the knowledge that there was a real risk of death), in connection with the deaths of 392 people, including 62 workers at the Eternit factory and 330 residents living in areas close to the factory, the Observatory added.

The Schmidheiny family’s Swiss Eternit Group was the majority shareholder of Eternit Italy between 1976 to 1986. The Italian company ceased operations in 1986, six years before asbestos was banned in Italy. But the victims’ representatives argue that the company was already aware of the risks posed by this material.

Translated with DeepL/gw

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