Press release
6 April 2022
Appeal against the wrongful conviction in the Eternit trial in Naples
Stephan Schmidheiny’s conviction for negligent homicide is unjustified
In another Eternit trial, a first-instance verdict was pronounced on 6 April 2022: The Naples Jury Court sentenced Dr Stephan Schmidheiny to three years and six months imprisonment for the alleged involuntary manslaughter of a former worker at the Eternit factory in Bagnoli. The sentence violates Italian law as well as fundamental legal principles. The defence therefore announces its appeal against this wrongful conviction and will continue to fight for the acquittal of Stephan Schmidheiny in Naples. The defence of Stephan Schmidheiny has also proven in Naples with facts that the perpetual accusations of the public prosecutors are unfounded insinuations and mere allegations. In asbestos processing, Stephan Schmidheiny was the first industrialist to consistently stand up for the protection of workers’ health and safety. The Naples Jury Court, while denying the prosecution’s request for conviction for voluntary homicide, did not fully appreciate the overwhelming evidence of Stephan Schmidheiny’s innocence in its verdict. The defence of Stephan Schmidheiny is counting on truth and justice prevailing in full in the second instance and Stephan Schmidheiny being acquitted. The defence will also demand acquittals in the other ongoing Eternit trials in Turin and Novara.
Stephan Schmidheiny has been facing absurd criminal charges in Italy since 2003: Since the beginning of the first Eternit trial in 2003, the prosecution has alleged that Stephan Schmidheiny orchestrated a worldwide conspiracy to conceal the danger of asbestos to human health. For pure greed of profit, he had omitted the necessary safety measures in the Italian factories and had thus knowingly and willingly caused the death of workers and residents of the Italian Eternit factories. These allegations are fictitious and contradict the facts and evidence presented in the trials.
Since April 2019, the allegation of the intentional killing of 6 workers and 2 residents of the Eternit factory in Napoli Bagnoli has been tried before the Corte di Assise of Naples. The historical documents presented and the numerous experts heard clearly prove that Stephan Schmidheiny is not responsible for the deaths of the 8 people. Stephan Schmidheiny managed the Swiss Eternit Group responsibly and in accordance with the laws in force at the time. Moreover, he took the then known risks of asbestos processing very seriously: Under his aegis, the Swiss Eternit Group enabled the Italian Eternit SpA to make massive investments in increasing safety measures. This made it possible to comply with the “safe use of asbestos” standards in force at the time. The Swiss group also specifically urged local managers to scrupulously comply with the rules.
The fact is that in the Napoli Bagnoli industrial area, several large companies had used asbestos in their production processes for decades (Italsider, Cementir, Eternit). Asbestos processing was legal in Italy until 1992. The proceedings against Stephan Schmidheiny dealt with the events in the period from 1976 to 1986. The scientific findings at that time on the health consequences of asbestos processing led the world community to assume that safe use of asbestos was possible. To minimise the health risks, the states therefore prescribed safety measures for the industries to reduce dust exposure. As the defence proved in the trial, the state labour inspectorates had always found dutiful production processes in line with safety standards in the Eternit factories in Italy during the period in question and had confirmed the massive dust reduction achieved as a result.
Despite these facts, the court convicted Stephan Schmidheiny of negligent manslaughter of a former worker. Although the court clearly ruled out the existence of intent, which is why six of the alleged crimes are time-barred. The court also acquitted Stephan Schmidheiny in one charged case. Nevertheless, the verdict is clearly unlawful: In Italy, numerous criminal trials have been conducted in recent years against persons who had responsibility as managers in asbestos-processing plants or who were their owners. Italian case-law has excluded the responsibility of persons who were in office for only part of the victims’ total exposure to asbestos because it is impossible to determine when the disease arose.
The scientific 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 proceedings. Contrary to what had been postulated until then, a reduction in dust exposure is not sufficient to prevent the development of asbestos-related 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 the asbestos-related cancer mesothelioma. It is also impossible to determine exactly when the disease begins. Accordingly, the causal cause of asbestos-related diseases, which is decisive in criminal proceedings, cannot be proven beyond doubt, neither regarding the relevant asbestos source nor regarding the time.
The defence will appeal against this absurd verdict. It is confident that truth and justice will prevail in a next instance and Stephan Schmidheiny will be acquitted. The defence will also demand acquittals in the other ongoing Eternit criminal proceedings in Turin and Novara.
Humanitarian programme for victims will continue to be maintained
Based on his entrepreneurial and philanthropic convictions, Stephan Schmidheiny has been taking care of the victims of the asbestos disaster in Italy for years: Since 2008, he has been offering compensation to former employees and residents of Eternit factories affected by asbestos disease. To be able to help those affected simply and unbureaucratically, the offer is accessible via the website www.offerta-eternit.it. In the meantime, well over 2,000 people have taken up the offer. Compensation in the high double-digit millions has been paid out. Stephan Schmidheiny will maintain this humanitarian programme in favour of the victims of this social tragedy.
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Further information:
Lisa Meyerhans, Communications Officer 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 was founded in 1906 and operated factories in Casale-Monferrato, Cavagnolo, Napoli-Bagnoli, Rubiera and Siracusa.
Stephan Schmidheiny had never personally held a position 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 Italian Eternit SpA during the so-called “Swiss period” (1973-1986). Instead, 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 to comply with the “safe use” safety standards in the factories of Eternit SpA. These internationally recognised standards were also 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 factories were closed and Eternit SpA went bankrupt in 1986.
In 1983 the EU had issued Directive No. 83/477/EEC on the protection of workers from the risks related to exposure to asbestos at work. This directive established 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 ruled that Italy had not transposed this directive and had thus breached its obligations under the EEC Treaty. 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 than the Italian state and Eternit’s competitors.
In an Eternit judgement, the highest Italian court also commented on the situation in the Eternit factories at the time and on the knowledge of the hazardous nature of asbestos at the time. 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 judgement, the Court of Cassation also pointed out that during the “Swiss period”, the state labour inspectorates had always found production processes in Eternit factories to be compliant with the regulations and had confirmed this accordingly.
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 intentionally causing a disaster (Art. 435 Italian Criminal Code, Codice Penale C.P.) and intentionally 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 majority of the 258 people affected by asbestos diseases were already listed as victims in the first Eternit trial. Obviously, this is a repetition of facts that have already been judged legally by all instances and thus a violation of the principle of multiple punishment (“ne bis in idem”).
Nevertheless, the charge in Turin was examined in a preliminary judicial procedure (udienza preliminare). In November 2016, the Turin court responsible for the preliminary hearing found that intent was not plausible and, changing the charge to negligent homicide, decided that only the Cavagnolo plant fell within the territorial jurisdiction of the Turin prosecutor’s office and therefore the Turin court. Consequently, the court referred the cases relating to the plants in Casale Monferrato and Naples Bagnoli to the competent prosecutor’s offices for investigation.
The Turin public prosecutor’s office appealed against this decision to the highest Italian court. In December 2017 (in a written judgement of May 2018), the Court of Cassation confirmed the decisions made in the preliminary proceedings in Turin in their entirety and explicitly stated that the accusation of intent is a legally untenable assertion by the public prosecutor’s office. Against this background, the indictment known as “Eternit bis” has now been split into three procedural strands:
“Eternit bis – Torino”: proceedings concerning the Eternit factory in Cavagnolo (Piedmont); the court in Turin is responsible. Criminal action: negligent homicide of 2 persons. First instance proceedings between 14 June 2017 and 23 May 2019. First instance (oral) judgment of 23 May 2019 (written on 10.7.2020): sentence of 4 years imprisonment for negligent homicide of 2 persons (1 worker and 1 resident of the Eternit factory in Cavagnolo). On 24 September 2020, the defence filed an appeal against the first instance verdict. By summons of 2 February 2022, the Court of Appeal of Turin set the start of the second instance proceedings for 3 March 2022. At the hearing on 3 March 2022, the prosecution and the civil parties pleaded for confirmation of the first instance judgement. Next hearing on 18 May 2022 for the defence’s pleas. The Court of Appeal will then decide; the second-instance verdict is expected in the summer months of 2022.
“Eternit bis – Casale Monferrato / Novara”: Proceedings concerning the Eternit factory in Casale Monferrato. The jury court (Corte di Assise) of Novara has jurisdiction. The first-instance proceedings on the intentional killing of 392 people (62 workers and 330 employees) have been running since 9 June 2021. 25 hearings have taken place in the meantime. The trial is at the stage of taking evidence; hearings are scheduled until July 2022. The verdict is expected in autumn.