The 1,800 victims and beneficiaries who filed a direct summons against fourteen “national actors” suspected of having contributed to delaying the ban on asbestos – a carcinogenic fiber responsible for more than 100,000 deaths in France – will have to wait several more months to have confirmation that a criminal trial will take place, or not. On Wednesday October 26, Chamber 31-2 of the Paris Criminal Court decided to hold a dedicated procedural hearing on Thursday March 9, 2023, to allow defense lawyers to raise objections of nullity, in order to s ensure that the case is in a state to be judged.
The fourteen people summoned to appear are directors of central administrations, senior civil servants, industrialists and doctors, aged between 62 and 88 years old. In matters of offence, the direct summons allows any presumed victim to summon the alleged perpetrator of the damage caused to him, without going through the investigation phase. It is up to her to provide evidence of this offence.
The fourteen defendants are accused by the applicants of having had a role or links with the Permanent Asbestos Committee, a lobbying structure financed, between 1982 and 1995, by asbestos manufacturers. They are suspected of having delayed, by disseminating erroneous information, the prohibition of this material, yet classified as a proven carcinogen for the lung and the pleura, from 1973, by the International Agency for Research on Cancer.
“We will see if the procedure is regular”
Lawyer for two of the defendants, Mr.e Benoît Chabert acknowledged “legitimate pain” complainants. “But the rights of the defense must take precedence, he pleaded on behalf of his defense colleagues. The facts date back more than thirty years and some of the people cited have benefited from dismissals for similar facts. We will raise serious objections, and the court can decide whether to join them on the merits [à l’examen du dossier]. »
Stressing the “non-standard” nature of this procedure, judge Sylvie Moysan warned that “as it stands, the court does not control the hearing dates”
Quoting “many records [impliquant certains prévenus] still under investigation and which will still be on March 9 “Laëtitia Costantini, the prosecutor and head of the public health unit of the Paris public prosecutor’s office, joined the request for a hearing of the defense procedure in order to “not to risk having contrary decisions” and of “know precisely what is being reproached” to the defendants.
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