Asbestos: justice refuses to hold a criminal trial demanded by victims

The Paris Criminal Court declared the procedure null and void because of its "vagueness", explaining that the summons did not allow the defendants to "link what is alleged against each" to specific victims.

He thus agreed with the defense lawyers, who had during an intermediate hearing on March 9 dedicated to the objections of nullity criticized this "vagueness", stressing that the citation did not state "the fact prosecuted", "the period of exposure" or even the link between the facts and the civil parties.

Plaintiffs now have the option of either resubmitting a citation or appealing the court's decision.

"In this case we can redo a citation and that is what we are going to do, very clearly", announced Michel Parigot, head of the national association of asbestos victims (AVA), after the statement of decision.

According to him, the inaccuracy of the quote is "due to the fact that justice has not done its job". "There was no instruction that was made for 26 years and (...) they did not look for the documents while we found a lot of them", he lambasted, accusing justice of "dragging".

"As a victim, we cannot understand that after 25 years we are still asking ourselves questions", reacted for his part Pierre Pluta, ex-worker of the shipyards of Dunkirk and president of Ardeva, a regional association for the defense of victims.

"We die today"

"I will not give up, I promised the victims," ​​added this 77-year-old man, with tears in his eyes, who called on justice to do "his job". "We worked and we die today," he said.

The few lawyers for the named individuals who were present in court on Friday declined to comment.

For about three years, most of the asbestos cases investigated in Paris have ended in dismissal, to the chagrin of the victims who are demanding a criminal trial to judge those responsible for this health scandal.

To achieve this, some 1.800 victims have decided to file a direct summons, which allows the victim of an offense to go directly to a criminal court. In this type of procedure, there are no investigations carried out by magistrates. Charges complainants with collecting evidence and naming suspects.

In this case, the direct quote was addressed to fourteen former representatives of ministries, business leaders or doctors, aged 62 to 84, who, according to the plaintiffs, sought to delay the ban on carcinogenic fiber, which took place in 1997.

Some of them had been indicted in 2011 and 2012 in two emblematic cases of the health scandal, those of the Parisian campus of Jussieu and the Normed shipyards of Dunkirk, before the Court of Cassation endorsed the abandonment of the prosecution. against them.

The plaintiffs wanted them to answer for their ties to the Permanent Asbestos Committee (CPA), described in a 2005 Senate report as a pro-asbestos "lobby" active between 1982 and 1995, when all varieties of asbestos were classified carcinogens by the World Health Organization (WHO) since 1977.

In the citation, the following offenses were targeted: "manslaughter and involuntary injury", "failure to assist a person in danger", "complicity in the administration of a harmful substance", "complicity in aggravated deception" and "criminal association".

In 2012, health authorities estimated that asbestos could cause three thousand deaths each year by 2025 from cancers of the pleura or bronchopulmonary cancers.

Asbestos in France: many procedures and dismissals

Since its ban in 1997, French justice, which on Friday refused the criminal trial demanded by victims, has repeatedly considered asbestos and pronounced resounding dismissals.

Reminder of the main court decisions in France concerning this carcinogenic fiber, once widely used in construction and industry.

September 6, 1996: first criminal proceedings

The Paris prosecutor's office opens the first criminal proceedings (against X) about exposure to asbestos, after the complaint of an electrician suffering from cancer of the pleura.

Two months earlier, the Minister of Labor Jacques Barrot announced the ban on January 1, 1997 of the manufacture, import and sale of asbestos in France.

October 29, 1996: Eternit

First judicial investigation against the leaders of Eternit, a fiber cement company, opened by the prosecution of Valenciennes (North).

November 19, 1996: Jussieu

The Paris prosecutor's office is opening a judicial investigation against "X" concerning the presence of asbestos in Jussieu, where the first major anti-asbestos mobilization started in the 1970s. The Minister of National Education, François Bayrou, announces the complete "asbestos removal" of this Parisian university campus.

December 18, 1997: Eternit doomed

The Dijon Court of Appeal condemns Eternit for "inexcusable fault" by the employer towards four former employees or beneficiaries. Many manufacturers and shipyards were subsequently sentenced for the same reason.

May 30, 2000: the "offending" state

The administrative court of Marseille judges for the first time the State "responsible" for four deaths, invoking its "culpable delay" to "enact more severe standards regarding the inhalation of asbestos fibers in the professional environment". Judgment confirmed on March 3, 2004 by the Council of State.

May 11, 2010: prejudice of anxiety

The Court of Cassation recognizes that asbestos workers can benefit from compensation for anxiety damage, not for economic damage.

February 8, 2013: Amisol, dismissed

The Paris Court of Appeal dismisses the investigation into the contamination of workers at the Amisol asbestos spinning factory in Clermont-Ferrand, closed since 1974.

April 14, 2015: Martine Aubry cleared

Martine Aubry is indicted on November 7, 2012 for homicide and involuntary injuries as former director of labor relations of the Ministry of Labor in the investigation into exposure to asbestos at Valeo factories in Condé-sur-Noireau (Calvados ).

The mayor of Lille was definitively exonerated on April 14, 2015 by the Court of Cassation.

June 13, 2017: multiple dismissals

The Paris public prosecutor's office requests the end of the investigations in several criminal investigations, considering it impossible to date precisely the intoxication of the victims.

This paves the way for cascading dismissals, such as July 10, 2019 for Eternit officials, indicted for homicide and involuntary injury.

Seven days later, general dismissal of the Condé-sur-Noireau factories.

January 22, 2021: resumption of investigation on Everite

The Paris Court of Appeal orders the resumption of the investigation into Everite, considering that its managers can be held responsible for the exposure of employees and reversing a dismissal of 2018 on this subsidiary of Saint-Gobain.

February 24, 2022: Jussieu, dismissal

Justice orders the abandonment of the proceedings for Jussieu: it is "not possible to link the damage to any faults which could be attributed - with certainty - to persons having a responsibility in the exposure to asbestos" .

October 12, 2022: investigation into the RATP

Opening of a judicial investigation at the Paris court for "endangering others" concerning the RATP and a subcontractor after the complaint of a worker who worked 20 years on the repair of the Paris metro stations.

May 3, 2023: Marseille theater

A year in prison is required in Marseille against a former head of the city department who transmitted an asbestos diagnosis two years late, contributing to the exposure of employees of the La Criée theater. Deliberate on June 26.

May 19, 2023: refusal of a criminal trial

The Paris court considers inadmissible a direct summons filed by nearly 2.000 people who hoped to obtain a criminal trial against 14 people who had responsibilities at the national level.