3 Japanese sentenced to prison over PFAS pollution in Italy
The presiding judge, center, delivers the ruling in a case concerning chemical pollution at a district court in Vicenza, Italy, on June 26. (Kosuke So)
VICENZA, Italy—Eleven individuals, including three Japanese nationals, were sentenced to prison here over chemical pollution caused by a former Mitsubishi Corp. subsidiary that contaminated groundwater and rivers, affecting hundreds of thousands of people.
The district court in Vicenza on June 26 handed down prison terms ranging from 2 years and 8 months to 17 years and 6 months.
Four Japanese, including board members of the former subsidiary, Miteni, were indicted in the case.
Two of them received 16-year prison sentences while one was handed an 11-year term. The other Japanese suspect was acquitted.
The chemicals released by the Miteni factory in northeastern Italy's Veneto region were polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), also known as 'forever chemicals' because they are nearly non-degradable in nature.
The court ordered the convicted defendants to pay a total of about 57 million euros ($67 million or 9.6 billion yen) to the Italian environment ministry.
In addition, the court recognized Mitsubishi's responsibility for the water contamination and ordered the corporation to provide compensation to victims, including individual citizens, the Veneto region and the municipal government where the factory was located.
The trial stemmed from an investigation by Veneto regional authorities in 2013, which identified the Miteni plant as the source of PFAS pollutants in the area. The factory, previously owned by Mitsubishi, produced the chemicals for textile and other industrial purposes.
Italian authorities estimated that 350,000 people in three provinces were affected by contaminated tap and groundwater.
Subsequent investigations found PFAS concentrations in blood samples of local residents far exceeded acceptable levels, and the pollution issue became a serious public health concern.
Prosecutors in 2021 accused Miteni of failing to properly treat PFAS waste generated during the manufacturing process and allowing the chemicals to enter the groundwater. They also said Miteni attempted to conceal the problem after the pollution was discovered.
Italian authorities indicted 15 individuals, including three Japanese who served as business managers of Mitsubishi's fluorochemical business division and one Japanese who was general manager at the division. Two of these Japanese individuals were also board members at Miteni before the subsidiary was sold in 2009.
The factory has been shut down and Miteni has gone bankrupt.
According to Marco Casellato, a lawyer representing the victims, the ruling represents the first time in Europe for corporate managers to be held criminal responsibility for PFAS pollution.
'This was a groundbreaking ruling that almost entirely recognizes corporate responsibility,' he said.
Mitsubishi declined to give its opinion on the ruling.
'We will refrain from answering questions because our views on this ruling are deeply related to ongoing legal proceedings,' the company said in a statement. 'However, we will continue to engage sincerely in discussions through the judicial process.'
PFAS is a collective term for organic fluorine compounds that are resistant to water, oil and heat. They have been widely used since the 1950s in waterproofing and firefighting foams.
In recent years, PFAS contamination has been linked to health problems, such as kidney and breast cancer.
(This article was written by Kosuke So, correspondent, and Shiki Iwasawa.)
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