Italian chemical plant executives convicted in 'historic' water pollution trial

Local Italy

27-06-2025

Eleven executives from companies including Japan's Mitsubishi and Luxembourg-based International Chemical Investors (ICIG) were convicted for contaminating nearly 200 square kilometres of drinking water and soil through the Miteni plant, near the city of Vicenza, Veneto.
The court sentenced them to prison terms ranging from two years and eight months to 17 years.
Four other defendants were acquitted.
PFAS – or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances – are a group of more than 10,000 human-made chemicals that repel heat, water, oil, and stains.
PFAS have been used since the late 1940s to mass produce the nonstick, waterproof and stain-resistant materials that coat everything from frying pans and umbrellas to carpets and dental floss.
But chronic exposure to even low levels of the chemicals has been linked to liver damage, high cholesterol, reduced immune responses, low birthweight and several types of cancer.
PFAS' carbon-fluorine bonds take millennia to break down in the environment.
The now-shuttered Miteni plant produced PFAS from 1968 until its closure due to bankruptcy in 2018.
It leaked chemical waste into a waterway, polluting a vast area between Vicenza, Verona and Padova, according to prosecutors.
The trial opened in 2021.
Prosecutors had requested cumulative jail terms of 121 years. The court's sentence was even tougher, with a total of over 141 years.
Hundreds of civil plaintiffs joined the trial, including environmental group Greenpeace and local mothers who united after discovering their families had the chemicals in their blood.
Greenpeace Italy representative Chiara Campione called the ruling "historic" in a statement.
The individuals and companies involved were sentenced to pay more than €6.5 million in damages to the Veneto region – a ruling welcomed by the president Luca Zaia.
They will also have to pay €58 million in damages to the Italian environment ministry, according to media reports.
In May, a court ruled that the death of a former plant worker who died of cancer in 2014 had been caused by prolonged exposure to PFAS.
By AFP's Ella Ide.