2 Defendants In Ivory Coast Toxics Case Get 20, 5 Years - 17 Killed, Thousands Sickened In 2006

[hatrack]

An Ivory Coast court on Wednesday handed down jail terms of 20 years and five years to two people for the dumping of toxic waste from a cargo ship in Abidjan in 2006 which killed 17 people and poisoned thousands.
Seven other people charged in the case were acquitted.

More than 500 cubic metres of toxic waste from a Panamanian-registered cargo ship, the Probo Koala, were dumped at public sites across Abidjan in August 2006, causing breathing problems and nausea among nearby residents.

The court -- after three hours of deliberation -- sentenced Nigerian national Salomon Ugborugbo, head of the Tommy company which dumped the waste from the Probo Koala, to 20 years in jail. Ivory Coast Attorney General Damou Kouyate had requested that he be sentenced to life in prison for poisoning.

Essoin Kouao, who worked as a shipping agent at the Port of Abijan and had recommended the Tommy company to the Probo Koala's charterer, received a five-year jail term. He had been charged with complicity in poisoning.

EDIT

http://www.terradaily.com/reports/20-year_jail_term_handed_down_in_ICoast_toxic_pollution_case_999.html