Afeva
Afeva is the association of asbestos victims' relatives. The organisation has for years followed the legal proceedings linked to Eternit's use of asbestos, whose production hit the Casale Monferrato area, in the Alessandria province, particularly hard, but whose most recent judicial proceeding reached the Court of Cassation after passing through Turin, where the appeal stage was held.[1]
The Eternit bis trial
The criminal proceeding concerns Stephan Schmidheiny, Eternit's last owner, charged with multiple aggravated manslaughter over cases of mesothelioma linked to asbestos exposure. The trial originally covered 392 victims. At first instance, in Novara, in June 2023, Schmidheiny had been sentenced to 12 years in prison. In April 2025 the Court of Appeal of Turin sentenced the defendant to 9 years and 6 months in prison; on appeal the number of victims considered fell to 91, mainly due to statutes of limitation that had intervened in the meantime. The defence's appeal aims, among other things, to exclude that the asbestos used during Schmidheiny's management can be considered a cause or contributing cause of the mesotheliomas found.[1]
The vigil outside the Court of Cassation
On 10 November 2026 a delegation from Afeva held a vigil outside the Court of Cassation in Rome, on the occasion of the hearing on the appeal filed by Schmidheiny's defence against the appeal conviction. The association stated: «The whole Casale Monferrato community, and beyond, hopes this very long battle will see justice prevail. At last».[1]
Chronology
- — A delegation from Afeva, the association of asbestos victims' relatives, holds a vigil outside the Court of Cassation in Rome at the hearing on the appeal filed by Stephan Schmidheiny, Eternit's last owner, who was sentenced on appeal in Turin in April 2025 to 9 years and 6 months in prison for aggravated multiple manslaughter in the Eternit bis trial. → CronacaQui Torino
Sources
- CronacaQui Torino — 9 November 2026