06/08/2007
Turin public prosecutors have completed their review of asbestos breaches in four Italian factories owned by the Swiss group Eternit. It found a case to answer for 2969 complaints and claims for compensation from workers contaminated by this cancer-causing substance.

The Turin public prosecution service has published a 108-page indictment listing the names of people affected by the disease and the wrongful acts committed by Eternit, the leading world asbestos cement producer. The plaintiffs’ lawyers claim that over 700 Italian workers have died and over 2000 more have contracted cancer at the company’s four sites.

The file will now be passed to a judge to decide whether to prosecute the multinational’s top men at the time - the Swiss industrialist Stephan Schmidheiny (one of the former owners) and the Belgian Jean Louis de Cartier de Marchienne (who held various positions of responsibility in the company).

Turin prosecutor Raffaele Guariniello is looking to charge the two men with criminal disaster and manslaughter in particular.

Source: ATS