The supreme Cassation Court on
Friday upheld the manslaughter convictions of three former
executives at publicly-held Fincantieri shipbuilders in the
asbestos-related deaths of 37 workers.
Luciano Lemetti, Giuseppe Cortesi and Antonio Cipponeri
were convicted in 2012, with prison sentences ranging from 32
months to four years.
The Court of Cassation reduced the sentences slightly and
upheld compensation to relatives, FIOM metalworkers union, INAIL
workmen's comp fund, and Legambiente environmental group.
Surviving workers testified they worked without face masks
and defective extractor fans, and were told to simply sweep the
asbestos dust off the floor of the plant, when it should have
been disposed of safely.
The company also reportedly failed to provide a cleaning
service for work garments, which employees washed at home. As
was the case of Angelo Morfo, who died of asbestos-related
cancer just a few months before his wife, Calogera Gulino, who
contracted the same disease while washing her husband's clothes.
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