An Italian court Monday convicted two men of negligence in some 2,000
asbestos-related deaths blamed on contamination from a construction
company, sentencing each of them to 16 years in prison and ordering them
to pay millions in what officials called a historic case.
Italian Health Minister Renato Balduzzi hailed the verdict by the
three-judge Turin court as "without exaggeration, truly historic,"
noting that it came after a long battle for justice.
"It's a great day, but that doesn't mean the battle against asbestos is
over," he told Sky TG24 TV, stressing that it is a worldwide problem.
Prosecutors said Jean-Louise de Cartier of Belgium and Stephan
Schmidheiny of Switzerland, both key shareholders in the Swiss
construction firm Eternit, failed to stop asbestos fibers left over from
production of roof coverings and pipes at its northern Italian
factories from spreading across the region.
During the trial, which has stretched on since December 2009, some 2,100
deaths or illnesses were blamed on the asbestos fibers, which can cause
grave lung problems, including cancer. Prosecutors said the
contamination stretched over decades.
The defendants had denied wrongdoing.
Hundreds of people, many of them who had lost parents or spouses to
asbestos-linked diseases, crowded the courtroom and two nearby halls to
gather for the verdict. When the convictions were announced, some of the
spectators wept.
Two hours after announcing the convictions, Judge Giuseppe Casalbore was
still reading the court's complete verdict, which included awards of
monetary damages from civil lawsuits from some 6,300 victims or their
relatives who alleged that loved ones either died or were left ill from
asbestos.
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