The Italian criminal court in Turin declared the two asbestos defendants GUILTY and condemned them to 16 years in jail! You can hear the full English version of the sentence read out (it took nearly 3 hours) online at: http://www.livestream.com/greenbox_/video?clipId=pla_0c7ba848-010d-4338-9afe-e6f75fa45c5dThe verdict was a sensation and everyone in the court was very relieved and pleased, the exception being the defendants’ lawyers. Neither of the defendants was there; neither one of them has appeared in court at any time during the proceedings. 

Of course this isn’t over and there is another trial for others who have died at Eternit’s hands in Italy, but what an historic milestone in the long search for justice endured by victims and their families.
The Italian newspapers had the news of the verdict on front pages; indeed, there has been massive coverage all over the world and the reputation of the two defendants is now well and truly trashed. It will be difficult now for Schmidheiny to present himself as the saviour of the planet in his capacity as an environmental guru and proponent of sustainable development. 
The court proceedings began at 9:30 on Monday morning and there was a 3 hour interval from around 10 a.m. During that time I was taken to meet the Public Prosecutor Raffaele Guariniello and to present him with a copy of the new publication: Eternit and the Great Asbestos Trial (see link on IBAS website:http://ibasecretariat.org/eternit-great-asbestos-trial-toc.htm
Friends of mine saw news clips about the trial on TV in Indonesia and Dubai and emailed me. I have found the link at:http://www.euronews.net/2012/02/13/asbestos-victims-breakthrough/Source: Laurie Kazan-Allen