Lawyer says ex-Eternit owner now immune

(ANSA) - Turin, November 21 - 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.