Afeva vigil at the Court of Cassation for the Eternit bis trial
Date of the event:
On 10 November 2026 a delegation from Afeva, the association of asbestos victims' relatives from Casale Monferrato, held a vigil outside the Court of Cassation in Rome. The occasion was the hearing on the appeal filed by the defence of Stephan Schmidheiny, Eternit's last owner, against the ruling of the Court of Appeal of Turin in the so-called Eternit bis trial [1].
The proceeding
The case concerns deaths from mesothelioma linked to asbestos exposure at Eternit's plants, particularly at the Casale Monferrato site. In April 2025 the Court of Appeal of Turin had sentenced Schmidheiny to 9 years and 6 months in prison for aggravated multiple manslaughter. The sentence was lower than the one handed down at first instance in Novara in June 2023, when the Swiss magnate had been sentenced to 12 years [1].
The trial had started with 392 mesothelioma victims recognised as injured parties. By the appeal stage, the number had dropped to 91, largely because of statutes of limitation that had intervened during the proceeding. Before the Court of Cassation, Schmidheiny's defence aims, among other arguments, to exclude that the asbestos used during the manager's tenure can be considered a cause or contributing cause of the mesotheliomas at issue [1].
The vigil
The Afeva delegation travelled to Rome to follow the hearing and demonstrate outside the Supreme Court building. The association called the legal saga a «very long battle» and expressed hope that «the Casale Monferrato community, and beyond» would see justice prevail [1].
Sources
- CronacaQui Torino — 9 November 2026