The Paris Criminal Court will examine the nullities raised by the defense, during a procedural hearing, in order to ensure that the file is able to be judged.
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The 1,800 victims and beneficiaries who filed a direct quote against fourteen “national actors” suspected of having contributed to delaying the ban on asbestos – carcinogenic fiber at the origin of more than 100,000 dead in France -, will still have to wait for several months to have confirmation that a criminal trial will take place, or not. Wednesday, October 26, Chamber 31-2 of the Paris Criminal Court decided on Thursday, March 9, 2023, of a dedicated procedural hearing, to allow the defense lawyers to raise exceptions of nullity, in order to ‘Ensure that the file is able to be judged.
The fourteen people mentioned to appear are directors of central administrations, senior officials, industrialists and doctors, aged 62 to 88. In terms of offense, direct quotation allows any alleged victim to appear the supposed author of the damage caused to him, without going through the instruction phase. It is up to her to provide proof of this offense.
The fourteen defendants are accused by the applicants of having had a role or links with the permanent asbestos committee, a lobbying structure funded, between 1982 and 1995, by asbestos manufacturers. They are suspected of having delayed, by disseminating erroneous information, the prohibition of this material however classified carcinogenic proven for the lung and the pleura, in 1973, by the International Center for Research on Cancer.
“We will see if the procedure is regular”
Lawyer of two of the respondents, M e Benoît Chabert recognized “the legitimate pain” of the complainants. “But the rights of the defense must take precedence, he argued in the name of his colleagues from the Defense. The facts date from more than thirty years and certain people mentioned have benefited from non-places for similar facts. We are going raise serious exceptions and the court may decide if it wants to join them at the bottom [on examination of the file]. “
quoting “numerous files [involving certain defendants] still under investigation and which will still be so on March 9”, Laëtitia Costantini, the prosecutor and head of the public health center of the Paris prosecutor’s office, has teamed up At the request for a defense procedural hearing in order to “not risk having contrary decisions” and “knowing precisely what is accused of” the respondents.
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