The report below is about the murder trial of asbestos billionaire Stephan Schmidheiny for 8 death of eight persons in Naples. It has been written by attorney Laura D'Amico representing AFeVA, the association of asbestos victims and their relatives. The trial is nearing its conclusion.
translation by Vicky Franzinetti (English)
The closing arguments started today at the Naples Court of Assizes in the trial where Stephan Schmidheiny stands accused of voluntary murder of eight workers and citizens of Bagnoli (just outside the city) where one of Eternit spa Italian plants was. Such a small number of plaintiffs is tank to the previous trial with the Judge of the preliminary hearing in Turin (aka GUP) who decided to turn the Turin PP’s indictment of voluntary murder into manslaughter which meant a lot of the cases fell under the statute of limitations [The Naples Court of Assizes, as the Novara one decided to reinstate the count of voluntary murder].
The Prosecution spoke for about 5 hours touching upon the evidence gathered on the hygiene and environmental conditions in the plant, the diagnosis of each case and the causal link between death due to mesothelioma and the defendant’s lack of measures that would have avoided the damage to the citizen and workers’ health.
The wilfulness or intention of the defendant, who had foreseen the possibility of deaths, became clear when presenting the false information circulated to quell the increasing concerns in the media, by the trade Unions and the Authorities, foreseeing and imposing his will on the top management of the company to follow a protocol of answers aimed at manipulating public opinion and free himself of any responsibility and liability. The Prosecution asked for a 23 year and 10 month sentence. The plaintiffs closing arguments then started, including the Casale Monferrato Afeva’s. On March the 23rd the defence and then the verdict.
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