Mixed Reaction to Asbestos Sentencing: ‘Justice is Not a Cure’

Asbestos victims and their supporters had a mixed reaction to the sentencing in Italy Monday of two businessmen, for causing more than 2,000 deaths by their negligence when running cement company, Eternit.

“It’s a mixture of satisfaction and hope,” says Marc Hindry. Hindry is head of a French group, called Andeva, still fighting for justice for asbestos victims.

“This will not bring back the lives of the people who died,” Hindry tells anchor Marco Werman. “Justice is not a cure; but it helps people to accept things.”

Hindry has been supporting the case against the Eternit executives in Italy. He says thousands of people are still sick, in addition to those who died.

He describes how he once visited one of Eternit’s company towns, Casale Monferrato. “There’s a kind of anger you can really feel,” Hindry says. “Half of the balconies of the city’s house(s) were decorated with flags, banners, saying ‘Eternit, Giustizia’ (Justice).”

Almost 3,000 inhabitants have died, Hindry claims, out of a population of just 40,000. Everybody, he says, has lost a friend or relative.

Hindry says he will continue fighting for asbestos victims in his own country, France.