The accusation of voluntary homicide, with possible malice, supported by the prosecutor did not hold up. He did not hold up the thesis according to which the Swiss entrepreneur Stephan Ernest Schmidheiny was aware of the health risks arising from exposure to asbestos and had not taken the necessary safety measures in the name of profit, thus leaving the now abandoned Eternit plant in Bagnoli, the workers came into contact, without protection, with the killer powders which then made some of them ill with tumors.
In the late afternoon today the judges of the second section of the Court of Assizes of Naples (president Concetta Cristiano) framed the eight deaths (including six workers) due to exposure to asbestos charged to the accused as manslaughter, declassifying the ‘accusation of voluntary homicide with possible willful misconduct filed by the prosecutor. And, for manslaughter, the accused was sentenced to 3 years and 6 months but in relation to only one case: the death of Antonio Balestrieri, one of the workers who died on 21 October 2009 of pleural mesothelioma. A provisional provision has been made in favor of the victim’s heirs equal to 3300 euros. For the death of Francesco Evangelista, which took place in 2009, the Court ordered the acquittal: Evangelista was a case, according to the prosecutors, of ‘environmental contamination’: the man was not a worker from Eternit but lived in the area of the plant . Finally, the Court declared the statute of limitations for six other cases: among the victims also the wife of a worker (according to the prosecutors who became ill while working in her husband’s overalls and coming into contact with asbestos). It is a bitter verdict, especially for the families of the victims who reacted to the reading of the sentence with the cry of “shame”. “The sentence of three years and six months is ridiculous and the compensation is even more ridiculous: 3 thousand and 300 euros for the life of my father”, comments angrily the son of Balestrieri, who launches an appeal to the Head of State Sergio Mattarella and to the Keeper of Seals Marta Cartabia “to obtain justice”. The Neapolitan association ‘MaiPiu’Amianto’ expresses disappointment and anger, the CGIL – which this morning held a garrison outside the court – assures that it wants to be alongside the families of the victims also in the appeal judgment.
But the verdict is also bitter for the prosecutors Anna Frasca and Giuliana Giuliano who had challenged Schmidheiny for the voluntary murder with possible willful misconduct, asking for him to be sentenced to 23 years and 11 months. According to the magistrates, who got a reply this morning before the council chamber began, the entrepreneur was aware of the consequences of exposure to asbestos and even failed to inform workers, family members and citizens about the risks, even putting in a process of disinformation “… to make defense more difficult for the victims”. The power of attorney will most likely appeal. And there will also be an appeal by the lawyers Astolfo di Amato and Carlo Alleva, lawyers of the accused, who in any case obtained the exclusion of the most serious accusation. During the trial, the two lawyers filed the sentences for similar disputes brought against Schmidheiny in reference to other Eternit factories. These sentences have ruled out the much more serious accusation of murder that other prosecutors had also tried to prosecute and it is therefore easy to imagine that the Court of Assizes of Naples has aligned itself with the preceding trials. The filing of the reasons is expected within 90 days.