Press release
16 February 2023
Defence of Stephan Schmidheiny will appeal against the verdict in the Eternit proceedings in Novara
The conviction for negligent homicide violates Italian law
In Novara, Piedmont, a first-instance verdict was handed down on 7 June 2023 in the third of the currently ongoing “Eternit bis” trials: The jury court in Novara sentenced Stephan Schmidheiny to 12 years imprisonment for the alleged negligent homicide of 147 former workers and residents of the Eternit factory in Casale Monferrato. The jury court in Novara was right to reject the prosecution’s absurd request for a conviction for the intentional homicide of 392 people. However, it did not fully appreciate the clear evidence of Stephan Schmidheiny’s innocence in its verdict. As in the other ongoing “Eternit bis” trials in Turin and in Naples, this verdict also violates Italian law and fundamental legal principles. The defense will therefore appeal against this miscarriage of justice. It will continue to fight for Stephan Schmidheiny’s full acquittal in all three proceedings and is counting on the higher instances of the respective courts to establish Stephan Schmidheiny’s innocence. The defense of Stephan Schmidheiny has also proven beyond doubt in Novara with historical facts and scientific evidence that the accusations made against Stephan Schmidheiny are unfounded insinuations and pure allegations. In asbestos processing, Stephan Schmidheiny was the first industrialist in the world to consistently stand up for the health protection and safety of workers; this long before the respective national bans on asbestos processing. Despite the malicious allegations, Stephan Schmidheiny continues to maintain the humanitarian program for the compensation of victims of the asbestos disaster in Italy, which has been running since 2008.
Stephan Schmidheiny has been facing absurd criminal charges in Italy for about 20 years: Since the beginning of the first Eternit trial in 2004, the public prosecutor’s office has alleged that Stephan Schmidheiny, as the 28-year-old heir to an industrial conglomerate, orchestrated a worldwide conspiracy to conceal the danger of asbestos to human health. He allegedly failed to take the necessary safety measures in the Italian factories out of pure greed for profit, and thus knowingly and willingly caused the deaths of workers and residents of the Italian Eternit factories. These allegations are completely fabricated and contradict the facts and the evidence presented in the proceedings. Asbestos was considered the material of the future worldwide for almost 100 years. Unfortunately, it was not until late that the global community realised that people could be harmed when handling asbestos.
Since June 2021, the accusation of intentional killing of 62 workers and 330 residents of the Eternit factory in Casale Monferrato has been heard before the Corte d’Assise of Novara. The Piedmont town of Casale Monferrato has been particularly affected by asbestos-related deaths because of numerous factories that had used asbestos in their production processes for decades and because of the widespread and improper use of asbestos waste by the community in private homes and in public areas such as streets and courtyards. Such use was prohibited during the so-called “Swiss period”. The trial covered the period between 1976 and 1986, during which Stephan Schmidheiny was at the head of the Swiss Eternit Group. Asbestos processing was banned in Italy in 1992. The historical documents presented in the proceedings and the numerous experts heard clearly prove that Stephan Schmidheiny was not responsible for the deaths of these 392 people. Stephan Schmidheiny managed the Swiss Eternit Group responsibly and in accordance with the laws in force at the time. Moreover, he took the risks of asbestos processing, which were known at the time, very seriously: Under his aegis the Swiss Eternit Group enabled its subsidiary, the Italian Eternit SpA, to make massive investments in increasing safety measures. This made it possible to comply with the “safe use of asbestos” production standards in force at the time. The Swiss group had also explicitly asked the locally responsible managers to strictly comply with the applicable regulations. Moreover, in the Casale Monferrato factory the distribution of asbestos waste to the general public was strictly forbidden during the so-called “Swiss period”. Stephan Schmidheiny was neither in operational management nor on the board of directors of the Italian holding company Eternit SpA. He also held no function in the local factories.
In the 1970s and 1980s, scientific findings on the health effects of asbestos processing led the global community to believe that it was safe to use asbestos. To minimise the health risks, the states at that time prescribed safety measures to industries to reduce dust exposure. As the defence proved at trial, the state labour inspectorates had always found production processes in compliance with safety standards at the Eternit factories in Italy during the period in question.
The realisation that no safe use of asbestos is possible only became established towards the end of the last century – long after the period dealt with in the trial. Contrary to what had been postulated until then, a reduction in dust exposure is not sufficient to prevent the development of the asbestos-related cancer type mesothelioma. This realisation then led to the bans on asbestos processing in Europe in the 1990s. To this day, it is unclear in science exactly how many asbestos fibres lead to mesothelioma. It is also impossible to determine exactly when the disease begins. Accordingly, the causal cause of asbestos-related diseases, which is decisive in a criminal trial, cannot be proven beyond doubt, neither regarding the relevant asbestos source nor regarding the time.
Despite these facts, the court convicted Stephan Schmidheiny of negligent homicide. Admittedly, the court clearly ruled out the existence of intent, which is why more than half of the alleged offences are time-barred. In addition, the court acquitted Stephan Schmidheiny in 46 cases. Nevertheless, the verdict is clearly unlawful, as Stephan Schmidheiny cannot be charged with negligence either. The asbestos processing was legal and Stephan Schmidheiny, as the highest responsible officer of the Swiss Eternit Group, always acted dutifully.
In Italy, moreover, numerous criminal proceedings have been brought in recent years against persons who were managers in asbestos-processing plants or who had owned such plants. Italian case law has always excluded the criminal liability of these persons if they were in office for only part of the total exposure of the victims to asbestos. This is because the time of onset of the disease cannot be determined. This does not seem to apply to Stephan Schmidheiny.
Humanitarian programme for victims will be maintained
Based on his entrepreneurial and philanthropic convictions, Stephan Schmidheiny has been taking care of the victims of the asbestos catastrophe in Italy for years: Since 2008, he has been offering compensation to former employees and residents of Eternit factories affected by asbestos disease. In the meantime, well over 2,000 people have accepted the offer. Compensation in the high double-digit millions has been paid out. Stephan Schmidheiny will maintain this humanitarian program in favour of the victims of this social tragedy.
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Further information:
Lisa Meyerhans, Communications Manager for Dr Stephan Schmidheiny, E-Mail: info@meyerhanspartner.ch
Prof. Dr Astolfo Di Amato, lead counsel for Dr Stephan Schmidheiny, E-Mail: astolfodiamato@diamato.eu
Facts about Stephan Schmidheiny and the Eternit factories in Italy
Stephan Schmidheiny is regarded worldwide as a pioneer in dealing with the risks of asbestos processing. He took over the management of the Swiss Eternit Group SEG from his father in 1976 at the age of 28. When Stephan Schmidheiny took office, SEG held an extensive network of minority interests in Eternit factories in 32 countries. In Italy, SEG held a stake in Eternit SpA. The Italian Eternit SpA was founded in 1906 by the Italian Alfredo Mazza. It operated factories in Casale Monferrato, Cavagnolo, Napoli Bagnoli, Rubiera and Siracusa.
Stephan Schmidheiny had never personally held any function in the Italian Eternit SpA. He was never on the board of directors or in the management of the Italian holding company Eternit SpA, nor did he ever hold a position in one of Eternit SpA’s factories. Between 1973 and the bankruptcy of Eternit SpA in 1986, SEG was the main shareholder, which is why this period is referred to as the “Swiss period” in the Eternit proceedings. Asbestos processing was banned in Italy in 1992.
Investments in the billions
The fact is that SEG never made a profit from the Italian Eternit SpA during the so-called “Swiss period” (1973- 1986). Rather, SEG enabled the Italian holding company Eternit SpA to make enormous investments totalling 89 billion lire via capital increases and loans, especially in improving job security. The investments made it possible for Eternit SpA’s factories to comply with “safe use” safety standards. These international standards were propagated at the time by the World Health Organisation WHO and the International Labour Organisation ILO.
In Italy, about 1,000 companies used asbestos in their production. The Italian state only began to regulate asbestos processing after the closure of the Eternit factories and the bankruptcy of Eternit SpA in 1986. The EU had issued a directive on the protection of workers against the risks of exposure to asbestos at work in 1983. This directive laid down the maximum permissible concentration of asbestos fibres in industrial installations and should have been transposed into national law in the member states by the beginning of 1987 at the latest. In a judgement of December 1990, the Court of Justice of the European Union found that Italy had not transposed this directive and had thus failed to fulfil its obligations. It was not until 1991 that the Italian state issued a directive to this effect, followed by a general ban on asbestos in March 1992. By applying internationally recognised safety standards, SEG thus applied much stricter standards to the production processes of the Italian Eternit SpA many years earlier than the Italian state and Eternit’s competitors. The high investments in safety were among the reasons why the Italian Eternit SpA could no longer produce competitively and had to file for bankruptcy.
In one of the Eternit judgements, the Italian Supreme Court also commented on the situation in the Eternit factories at the time and on the knowledge at the time about the danger of asbestos. According to this written judgment of the Court of Cassation, published in May 2018, the knowledge at the time in the state and industry assumed that safe use of asbestos was possible, which is why asbestos processing had been permitted in Italy until 1992. In its ruling, the Court of Cassation also pointed out that the state labour inspectorates had found production processes in conformity with the law in the Eternit factories during the “Swiss period”.
Background to the Eternit trials in Italy
Between 2009 and 2014, the first Eternit trial known as the “Maxi trial” was conducted in Italian courts. The Turin prosecutor Raffaele Guariniello accused Stephan Schmidheiny of deliberately causing a disaster (Art. 435 Italian Criminal Code, Codice penale C.P.) and deliberately failing to take safety measures (Art. 437 C.P.). As a result, thousands of employees and residents of the former Eternit factories had been exposed to asbestos dust and had therefore died of asbestos-related diseases. At the end of 2014, this trial ended with an acquittal for Stephan Schmidheiny. The highest Italian court – the Corte Suprema di Cassazione – found that the criminal offences Stephan Schmidheiny was charged with had already been time-barred before the trial at first instance began. The Court of Cassation therefore did not assess any substantive issues and held that the first criminal trial should thus not have been conducted.
Despite this acquittal, the Turin prosecutor Raffaele Guariniello brought new charges against Stephan Schmidheiny at the end of 2014. These proceedings are known as “Eternit bis”. The prosecution took over the indictment from the first Eternit trial almost word for word and only changed the charge to “intentional homicide”. The vast majority of the cases were also listed as victims in the first Eternit trial. Obviously, this is a repetition of facts that have already been judged by all instances and thus a violation of the principle of multiple punishment (“ne bis in idem”).
Nevertheless, the charge was examined in Turin in a preliminary judicial proceeding (udienza preliminare). In November 2016, the court in charge of the preliminary investigation in Turin considered that no intentionality could be assumed and it therefore changed the charge to negligent homicide. At the same time, the court ruled that only the Cavagnolo plant fell within the jurisdiction of the Turin public prosecutor’s office and thus the Turin court. As a result, the court referred the cases related to the Casale Monferrato and Napoli Bagnoli factories to the locally competent prosecution offices for investigation.
The public prosecutor’s office in Turin appealed against this decision to the highest Italian court. In December 2017 (written judgement of May 2018), the Court of Cassation fully confirmed the findings made in the preliminary proceedings in Turin, which excluded the existence of intent. Against this background, the prosecution known as “Eternit bis” has now been split into three strands of proceedings. In addition to the proceedings in Novara for the Casale Monferrato factory, these are:
“Eternit to – Turin”
Proceedings concerning the Eternit factory in Cavagnolo (Piedmont); the court in Turin is responsible. After a first- instance sentence of 4 years’ imprisonment for the negligent killing of 2 people in May 2019, the Turin Court of Appeal revised this sentence in favour of Stephan Schmidheiny in February 2023. The court acquitted Stephan Schmidheiny in full of the charge of negligent homicide of the resident. She had died because of asbestos-related mesothelioma cancer. Regarding the death of the worker due to asbestosis, the court recognised mitigating circumstances and sentenced Stephan Schmidheiny to a conditional prison term of 1 year and 8 months. Once the written verdict is available, the defence will appeal against this verdict to the Italian Supreme Court and demand an acquittal also for the death of the worker.
“Eternit to – Napoli”
Eternit factory trial in Napoli Bagnoli, Campania. Between April 2019 and April 2022 first-instance trial before the Naples jury on the intentional killing of 6 workers and 2 residents. First instance (oral) verdict of 6 April 2022: conviction for negligent homicide of a former worker of the Eternit factory in Bagnoli to 3 years and 6 months imprisonment. The defense appealed against this sentence. The prosecution did not appeal. The second-instance proceedings are expected to begin towards the end of 2023.