A procedure in the wind. The Paris Criminal Court on Friday ruled inadmissible a direct summons filed in November 2021 by nearly 2,000 victims of the asbestos scandal, who hoped to obtain a trial through this against 14 people who had responsibilities at the national level.
The court pronounced the nullity of this procedure because of its “vagueness”, explaining that the defendants were “not in a condition to be able to link what is alleged against each” to specific victims.
A new procedure to come
Classified as carcinogenic at the end of the 1970s, asbestos has been banned in France since 1997. According to predictions by the High Council for Public Health in 2014, this fibrous natural material, widely used in the building sector, could be responsible for 60,000 to 100,000 deaths by 2050.
“We are at more than 3,000 deaths per year,” says Michel Parigot, president of the Anti-Asbestos Jussieu committee, who, on France Infourged justice to try “the industrialists and senior officials who have been lobbying since the end of the 1970s”.
But the victims have not said their last word and are preparing to launch a new procedure. “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. For about three years, most asbestos cases investigated in Paris have ended in dismissal, to the great displeasure of the victims.