Stephan Schmidheiny , the Swiss industrialist who owns the Eternit multinational , was sentenced to 12 years in prison. The sentence, established by the Court of Assizes of Novara, in the "Eternit bis" trial for the death of 392 people exposed to asbestos in the territory of Casale Monferrato.
The charge was initially of voluntary manslaughter with possible malice, later reduced to manslaughter . The tycoon will also have to pay maxi-compensations : 50 million euros to the Municipality of Casale, 30 million to the Italian State and hundreds of millions to the families of the victims. Prosecutors Gianfranco Colace and Mariagiovanna Compare had asked for life imprisonment against the Swiss entrepreneur, the maximum allowed by the penal code. The defense then first asked for acquittal "because the fact does not exist" for lack of evidence on the causal link, and then "because the fact does not constitute a crime".
There was no lack of comment on the sentence by the mayor of Casale Monferrato , Federico Riboldi: « We are partially satisfied . A clear point has been made. I don't know if the families of the victims will get the compensation. What is certain is that it was established that whoever could intervene knew and did not do it». According to the mayor, the sentence does not console «a territory and a community that after years continues to suffer because of those actions committed. That plant was a veritable bomb that was harmful to health».
(Unioneonline/vf)
