A defence lawyer representing
former Eternit owner Stephan Schmidheiny said Friday that
Italian courts cannot try him again for charges related to his
asbestos cement plants blamed for thousands of deaths.
An accused person "cannot be tried twice for the same
offence", which would occur if reports that prosecutors are
preparing charges related to 263 absestos-related deaths are
confirmed, said Astolfo Di Amato, representing Schmidheiny.
Families of victims of deadly asbestos poisoning took hope
Thursday after prosecutors in Turin completed a homicide probe
into the Swiss tycoon that sources said could see him face
charges over 263 deaths.
Many were outraged after Italy's highest appeals body, the
Court of Cassation, on Wednesday overturned an 18-year prison
sentence against Schmidheiny because it timed out under the
country's statute of limitations.
That led politicians including Premier Matteo Renzi to vow
to change relevant laws.
Schmidheiny had been charged with failing to provide
adequate safety measures at the plants, charges he has denied.
In a statement Thursday, the Cassation Court added its
remit was to deal only with the issue of an asbestos
environmental disaster from 1986, the year an Eternit plant
closed, rather than with individual cases of illnesses and
deaths.
The objective "was to ascertain whether or not the disaster
occurred," the Court said in a note.
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