Supreme Court orders new appeal for Schmidheiny in Eternit asbestos case

Italy's Court of Cassation ordered a fresh appeal trial for former Swiss tycoon Stephan Schmidheiny in the long-running Eternit bis asbestos case, resetting legal proceedings as victims' families face further delays and expiring limitation periods.

Judges belonging to the Fourth Criminal Section of the Supreme Court delivered the verdict after more than six hours of deliberation, according to reporting from Il Sole 24 ORE. The ruling annuls previous appeal determinations and sends the case back before a completely different section of the Turin Court of Appeal. The renewed proceedings will specifically examine around 60 injured parties and deaths linked to asbestos pollution and mesothelioma stemming from the former factory in Casale Monferrato, situated in the province of Alessandria (Adnkronos). At the same time, the supreme judges declared the statute of limitations applicable to another 25 victims, definitively halting those specific charges (Adnkronos, LaPresse).

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The high court's intervention follows an earlier procedural setback. Last February, supreme judges ordered a referral to the Court of Appeal because the second-instance sentence — which had handed the entrepreneur a prison term of nine years and six months for deaths caused by asbestos — lacked a required German translation for the defendant (Adnkronos). During the initial first-instance tier of judgment, Schmidheiny had received a sentence of 12 years (Adnkronos). Throughout the latest hearings, the Public Prosecutor's Office and the Attorney General's Office pushed to have the defence's appeal declared inadmissible while upholding the nine-and-a-half-year prison sentence, arguing that the Turin Court of Assizes of Appeal ruling was soundly reasoned and protected the constitutional right to life (Il Sole 24 ORE). The Fourth Section ultimately rejected that prosecution request.

Schmidheiny directed the Eternit plant in Casale Monferrato across a decade spanning 1976 to 1986 (Adnkronos, Il Sole 24 ORE). Prosecutors accused him of multiple counts of aggravated negligent homicide and involuntary manslaughter (Adnkronos, Lapresse). While the initial charges contested in the first instance involved 392 victims, that figure has steadily eroded through successive acquittals, lower court rulings, and the expiration of legal time limits (Adnkronos, Il Sole 24 ORE).

Legal Stage / Metric	Details & Victim Figures	Judicial Outcome
First Instance	392 victims contested initially	Sentenced to 12 years in prison (Adnkronos)
Second Instance (Appeal)	91 people in Casalese framework	Sentenced to 9 years and 6 months (Adnkronos, Il Sole 24 ORE)
Supreme Court Remand	~60 injured parties	Sentence annulled; fresh appeal ordered before Turin Court of Appeal (Adnkronos)
Statute of Limitations	25 additional victims (plus earlier drops)	Charges declared time-barred without retrial (Adnkronos, Il Sole 24 ORE)

Outside the Palace of Justice, known locally as the Palazzaccio, a delegation from the Association of Families of Asbestos Victims (Afeva) of Casale Monferrato gathered in Piazza Cavour holding a prominent banner bearing the slogan "Justice-Research-Reclamation" (Adnkronos, Il Sole 24 ORE). Local representatives and affected relatives expressed deep dismay over the ongoing erosion of accountability caused by procedural delays.

"People are still dying in Casale Monferrato. Almost 50 people a year. So far, there have been 3,000 victims."

Gianni Crisafulli, former deputy mayor of Casale Monferrato, via Il Sole 24 ORE

Crisafulli noted that his own father succumbed to mesothelioma despite never being a direct employee of the factory, emphasizing that the litigation involves ordinary citizens who unwittingly lost their lives to environmental pollution (Il Sole 24 ORE). Civil lawyers and former workers voiced matching frustrations as they exited the courtroom.

"We are reading the judgements; if necessary, I will appeal them. It is certainly a huge disappointment, especially for the victims and for me too. Our frustration stems from once again failing to bring justice to this tragedy."

Giacomo Mattalia, lawyer representing civil claimants, via Il Sole 24 ORE

Legal counsel broke down the high court's complex instructions into distinct categories: a primary group of cases returning for a retrial via quashing with remand, a second category where charges expired entirely under statute of limitations rules, and civil-aspect dismissals for specific worker claims where time limits lapsed mid-proceeding (Il Sole 24 ORE). Nicola Pondrano, a former Eternit worker, summarized the collective mood by stating that time slipping away equates to justice slipping away (Il Sole 24 ORE).

Local residents facing active diagnoses underscored the human cost of the judicial timeline. Elena, a Casale resident diagnosed with occupational mesothelioma, pointed to ongoing medical realities in local outpatient clinics where roughly 50 new asbestos-related patients are registered annually (Il Sole 24 ORE). Under Italian legal statutes, the limitation period for manslaughter spans 15 years from a victim's death and continues running concurrently with active court trials, making prolonged appellate loops a critical factor in whether survivors ever witness a final verdict (Il Sole 24 ORE).

The case now returns to the Turin Court of Appeal for the newly mandated hearings, where a different section of judges will re-evaluate the evidence surrounding the remaining victims while defense and civil parties prepare for another round of legal arguments (Adnkronos, Il Sole 24 ORE).