Court of Appeal Assizes of Turin
The Court of Appeal Assizes of Turin is the section of the Turin Court of Appeal responsible for judging on appeal the most serious crimes under the penal code, including intentional and multiple negligent manslaughter, already decided at first instance by the Court of Assizes (Corte d'Assise). The panel is made up of professional judges and lay judges (giudici popolari).
The Eternit bis trial
The Court of Appeal Assizes of Turin judged on appeal the trial known as Eternit bis, concerning the deaths of 91 people from asbestos-related diseases linked to the activity of the Eternit plants. The defendant in the proceedings was Swiss businessman Stephan Schmidheiny, the last surviving patron of the company. The Court of Appeal Assizes of Turin sentenced him to nine years and six months for aggravated manslaughter, basing its decision, according to the Supreme Court's general prosecutor, «with great care and logical consistency». The ruling relied, among other things, on a scientific study by Professor Corrado Magnani on the acceleration of the onset of mesothelioma and of death in relation to increased asbestos exposure [1].
The 2026 quashing and referral
On 10 November 2026 the Court of Cassation (Supreme Court), after a hearing with submissions from general prosecutor Paolo Fiore and the defence lawyers Astolfo Di Amato and Guido Carlo Alleva, quashed the sentence handed to Schmidheiny by the Court of Appeal Assizes of Turin and referred the case back to a newly constituted panel of the same court. Among the grounds of appeal, the defence had raised the issue of ne bis in idem (the principle against being tried twice for the same offence) and challenged the causal link underlying the scientific study cited in the appeal ruling. At the reading of the decision, in Rome, activists from the Afeva association, relatives of asbestos victims, and representatives of Casale Monferrato's institutions, including mayor Emanuele Capra, were present [1].
The case therefore returns before the Court of Appeal Assizes of Turin, in a different composition from the one that handed down the quashed sentence, for a fresh examination, in particular of the causal link between asbestos exposure and the victims' deaths [1].
Timeline
- — On 10 November 2026 the Court of Cassation quashes the nine-and-a-half-year sentence given to Swiss businessman Stephan Schmidheiny in the Eternit bis trial and refers the case back to a newly constituted panel of the Court of Appeal Assizes of Turin. → Il Torinese
Sources
- Processo Eternit Bis: il giorno della verità — Il Torinese, 10 November 2026