ThyssenKrupp officials face stiffer sentences

(ANSA) - Rome, April 25 - Senior officials with steelmaker ThyssenKrupp are likely to face stiffer sentences after the Supreme Court of Cassation struck down lighter prison terms for their convictions over the deaths of seven workers at a plant fire in 2007. Last year an appeal court had reduced the first-degree homicide sentence for Harald Espenhahn, the former chief executive officer (CEO) of the Italian division of Germany's ThyssenKrupp steelmaker. It reduced Espenhahn's sentence to 10 years from 16 and a half years, prompting outraged families of the victims to stage a sit-in. The initial sentence marked one of the first times at a workplace death trial in Italy that a senior official was convicted of homicide. Sentences were also reduced last year for four other ThyssenKrupp managers who were convicted of manslaughter, and initially received jail sentences ranging from 10 years in prison to 13 and a half years. A fifth employee saw his sentence increased.
    But those verdicts were quashed by the Cassation later on Thursday, which has ordered a new Appeals level trial in Turin.
    "With the decision taken last night, the responsibility of the accused for the Thyssen fire is established and the risk is that the punishments will be increased at the new appeals trial," a source at the Cassation said Friday. This position was echoed by Turin Prosecutor Raffaele Guariniello.
    "In the new appeals trial, we'll call for an increase of the punishments for the accused," said Guariniello.