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11 Italian Asbestos Verdict Due on Friday! (July 20, 2015)

On Friday, July 24, 2015, Judge Federica Bompieri will hand down a momentous decision in a court in Turin, Italy. She will decide whether to comply with a request from the Turin Public Prosecutors Raffaele Guariniello and Gianfranco Colace for a new criminal trial against asbestos billionaire Stephen Schmidheiny.

This morning, Judge Federica Bompieri informed the Turin court that she had suspended her decision regarding the charges against defendant Stephan Schmidheiny pending a ruling by Italy’s Constitutional Court on the issue of “double jeopardy.” Placing the matter in the hands of the higher court, the preliminary hearing judge cited article 649 of the criminal proceeding code which differentiates between “historical” and “juridical” facts.

12 LKA Blog (March 17, 2015)

It is now more than a month since the Italian Supreme Court (Court of Cassation) overturned guilty verdicts, previously upheld in the Turin Appeal Court (see: 2013 Appeal Verdict in the Great Asbestos Trial), in a case brought over the asbestos deaths of thousands of Italian citizens.

The 2012 jail sentences handed down by a Turin Court to former asbestos businessmen Stephan Schmidheiny and Jean-Louis de Cartier de Marchienne were landmarks in the global fight for asbestos justice.

According to the press reports, asbestos contamination was rife at the Olivetti plant in Ivrea, thirty-five kilometres from Turin. A particularly worrying source of exposure was the talc used in the manufacturing process; it was contaminated with tremolite asbestos.

the risk posed by tremolite contamination at the plant and the existence of a 1981 Turin Polytechnic report which highlighted the hazard;

13 Manchester’s Action Mesothelioma Day 2014 (July 7, 2014)

After a 3-year trial, Stephan Schmidheiny, the former owner of the Eternit group was sentenced to 18 years in jail in 2013 by the Turin Court of Appeal; he was found guilty of environmental disaster. In the meantime, another criminal trial against Eternit is being prepared: Stephan Schmidheiny is now being sued for mass murder.

14 Review: Maria Roselli, The Asbestos Lie: The Past and Present of an Industrial Catastrophe (June 24, 2014)

In 2009, a trial began in Turin in which Stephan Schmidheiny answered charges of causing an environmental disaster and failing to protect workers. In 2012, Schmidheiny (and another executive) were held responsible for the deaths in Italy of about 1,800 people and the illnesses of several thousand others.

15 Postscript to the Great Asbestos Trial (February 18, 2014)

On February 13, 2012, Stephan Schmidheiny and Jean-Louis de Cartier de Marchienne were found guilty for their part in the humanitarian catastrophe caused by Eternit's asbestos operations in Italy. The defendants in this criminal case were convicted of causing wilful permanent environmental disaster and failing to comply with safety rules as a result of which thousands of Italians died from asbestos-related diseases.1 For their crimes, Schmidheiny and Marchienne were sentenced by the Turin Court to 16 years in prison and ordered to pay 6,392 injured parties compensation estimated at more than €5 million.2

In recognition of the enormous international interest in this case, for the first time ever the provision of simultaneous translation into English and French was sanctioned by the authorities of the Turin Court; these translations were streamed live over the internet.

As we heard the English translator pronounce the words “In the name of the Italian people, the Turin criminal court declares the defendants Schmidheiny and De Cartier guilty,” we knew that the victims' 30-year campaign for justice had succeeded. Commenting on the outcome, the Associazione Famigliari Vittime Amianto (Association of Asbestos Victims' Families) said:

Turin Public Prosecutor Raffaele Guariniello, who pioneered this landmark case, told journalists surrounding him in the aftermath of the verdict: “Today we have the right to dream that justice can be done and must be done.” Guariniello has already started work on Eternit 2, a case involving hundreds of Italians who have died since 2009 from asbestos-related diseases.

In France, attempts to replicate the Turin process are being made3 but success is yet to be achieved, while in Brazil, another country which has experienced massive damage at the hands of Eternit, prosecutors regard the 700+-page Italian verdict as a precedent to be used in all ongoing actions in the country.

A fortnight later (July 16), it was reported that Schmidheiny's legal team had submitted a 500-page appeal to the Turin Court, which looked to overturn the verdict on grounds of constitutionality, jurisdiction and statute of limitations.

Attempts by the defendants to quash the verdict suffered a serious setback on March 4, 2013 when the President of the Turin Court of Appeal not only validated the first instance guilty ruling but also rejected the defendants' ploy to halt the ongoing proceedings. The appeal proceedings had nearly reached completion when on May 21, 2013 the death of 91-year old defendant Louis de Cartier de Marchienne was reported.

On June 3, 2013 the Appeal Court not only upheld the first instance verdict but upped Schmidheiny's prison sentence from 16 to 18 years.4 The proceedings were closely watched by Italian asbestos victims and campaigners who were joined in the Turin court by colleagues from France, Belgium and Switzerland, countries where Eternit asbestos operations also caused a massive loss of life.

The 2012 verdict of the Turin Court and the 2013 judgment of the Appeal Court were great victories not only for the people of Casale Monferrato and other Italian towns where people's lives counted for nothing in Eternit's pursuit for profits, but also for asbestos victims elsewhere. These judgments give us hope that in every jurisdiction around the world asbestos profiteers can be held to account for the damage they have done.

16 The Curse of Asbestos (January 29, 2014)

On this date, he was sentenced, by a Turin Court, to 16 years in prison and payment of 100 million Euros for the asbestos-related deaths of thousands of people contaminated in Italian Eternit plants. The crime was described as a “willful and permanent environmental disaster and willful negligence of safety measures for workers”.

The Schmidheiny aura continues in some high-level spheres even after the conviction by the Court of Turin. The exchange of letters between the office of the law firm that represents the Italian victims and the University of Yale is an example. This was the response of the Yale administration to the victims' request: “Yale granted the honor to Mr.

Not empty cries, but anchored in documentation: the Italian victims delivered a letter to Yale University in support of their cause with the names of more than 70 renowned scientists from around the world, as well as the main conclusions of the Court of Turin, taken from a sentence more than 800 pages long.

He, who according to the Court of Turin, was involved in so much evil, perhaps wanted too much: a place in history as a hero. And so his victims appeared to remind him that he is a villain – and that the bodies will remain unburied until there is justice.

To a certain extent his letter, years before the sentence of the Court of Turin, reminded Stephan Schmidheiny that, when it comes to human destiny, not even those who believe they are gods can escape.

17 LKA Blog (September 3, 2013)

The funeral took place today (June 1, 2013) of Belgian Baron Louis de Cartier de Marchienne, one of two defendants condemned last year in a landmark asbestos ruling handed down by the Turin criminal court. On Monday (June 3), the appeal verdict of this case will be announced. Under Italian jurisprudence, the Baron’s death ended proceedings against him and the company he represented; whether civil charges will be pursued by his victims remains to be seen.

18 Brazilian Court: Eternit to Pay! (August 28, 2013)

In a landmark ruling handed down in February 2012, the Turin Court held executives from Eternit Groups in Switzerland and Belgium responsible for deaths in Italian towns where Eternit asbestos-cement factories operated.6 Although there is little doubt that this case will be appealed, it seems certain that the tide has turned in Brazil.

19 Interpretation of "The Female Face of Britain's Asbestos Catastrophe" (July 2, 2013)

I want to produce twenty pieces which will reveal a panorama of the asbestos tragedy; from the invention by Ludwig Hatschek of the asbestos-cement process to the condemnation of Schmidheiny in the great asbestos trial of Turin, incorporating the contribution made by Dr. Irving Selikoff, the fight for justice by the workers in Casale Monferrato, and other key topics.

20 2013 Appeal Verdict in the Great Asbestos Trial (June 3, 2013)

Today (June 3, 2013) in Turin the Appeal Court not only upheld a landmark asbestos verdict of 2012 but upped the prison sentence handed out to Swiss billionaire Stephan Schmidheiny from 16 to 18 years! Defendants Stephan Schmidheiny and Baron Louis de Cartier de Marchienne were appealing guilty verdicts they received for their parts in the asbestos deaths of thousands of Italians.

Attempts by the defendants to quash the verdict suffered a serious setback on March 4, 2013 when the President of the Turin Court not only validated the first instance guilty ruling but also rejected the defendants' ploy to halt the ongoing proceedings. The appeal had nearly reached completion when on May 21, 2013 the death of one of the defendants, 91-year old Louis de Cartier de Marchienne, was reported.

Italian asbestos victims and campaigners were joined in the Turin court this morning by colleagues from France, Belgium and Switzerland, countries where Eternit asbestos operations have also caused a massive loss of life. Just after 9 a.m. expert witness Pietro Clerici was asked by the Court to authenticate the death certificate of one Louis de Cartier de Marchienne.