Ex-API execs indicted in asbestos deaths

(ANSA) - Ancona, December 21 - A court on Monday indicted two former oil executives in the asbestos-related deaths of two workers at an API Group refinery in the seaside town of Falconara marittima in Ancona province.
    Former API chairman Aldo Maria Brachetti Peretti and the ex-refinery manager Giovanni Saronne will face manslaughter charges in the 2011 deaths of the two retired workers.
    Prosecutors say Alfio Calcina, who worked in the refinery for 30 years, and administrative employee Roberto Greganti both died from asbestos exposure to executive negligence at the plant. Trial begins March 2 in Ancona.
    In July, a Milan court convicted 11 former managers at Pirelli tire maker over the deaths of some 20 workers caused by tumours linked to asbestos exposure.
    The workers were employed at Milan plants in the 1970s and 1980s. The ex-managers were handed prison sentences of up to seven years, eight months.
    Four former Milan mayors are being investigated for manslaughter and grievous bodily harm in seven asbestos-related deaths at Milan's Teatro alla Scala opera house, while in October, former minister Corrado Passera and businessman Carlo De Benedetti were among 17 people indicted in the asbestos-related deaths of former Olivetti workers.
    Senate Speaker Pietro Grasso said last month that completing a clean-up of asbestos around Italy is "a true emergency" and that recent measures to spur the elimination of the deadly material were "the sign, finally, of serious concern on the part of parliament".