Two former executives of the Swiss building firm Eternit went on trial Thursday for negligence resulting in more than 2,000 deaths and hundreds of injuries. Stephan Schmidheiny, owner of the firm, and former managing director Jean-Louis de Cartier de Machienne, could face up to twelve years in prison. The trial is taking place in Turin, Italy.
The executives allegedly did not ensure that the proper precautions were taken regarding the safe handling of asbestos, a carcinogenic component of the building materials that their firm manufactures. More than 3,000 individuals are seeking damages in the case, claiming that they have developed asbestos related diseases from working at or living near the firm’s factories, or otherwise being exposed to the potentially lethal asbestos fibers.
Asbestos litigation has been on the rise over the past several years for a number of reasons. Among those reasons, the two most prevalent are the rise of mesothelioma and other asbestos related disease diagnoses, and the radically changed face of the asbestos industry. The asbestos industry, which is effectively dead at present, played an important part in shipbuilding and other defensive measures during World War II, and helped to support the construction, automobile manufacturing, and heavy industry fields worldwide in the subsequent race for industrial supremacy. While the dangers of asbestos were vaguely understood even before the war, the ramifications of its use were downplayed because of its significance in the defense and industrialization agendas.
Three entire court rooms were allocated for the trial’s use in Turin, Italy, connected to the central court room using a closed circuit television system. On the first day of the trial, just two days ago, all three court rooms were filled with journalists, friends and family of those involved in the trial, and spectators. Additionally, demonstrators crowded outside the court building bearing signs and banners that demand the executives be brought to justice.
The owner of Eternit and its former managing director have assembled a formidable defense team of 26 lawyers. Prosecutors are claiming that this is the single largest trial of its kind to date, while ANSA, an Italian news cooperative, has dubbed it “The Trial of the Century.”
