A court in Ivory Coast jailed two people over the deadly 2006 dumping of toxic waste from a ship chartered by an international oil trader, but victims complained that not all of those responsible were punished. At least 17 people were killed and thousands more made ill by the dumping of the noxious waste at unprotected sites around the commercial capital Abidjan.
The case caused a public outcry in the world's No 1 cocoa producer and raised questions about the dumping of toxic materials in Africa. In the court sentencing late on Wednesday, Nigerian Salomon Ugborugbo, director of the local Tommy company which had used trucks to distribute the waste around Abidjan two years ago, was given a 20-year sentence on a charge of "poisoning". The prosecution had asked for a life sentence.
Ivorian shipping agent Desire Kouao received a five-year sentence for "complicity" over the same charge. Seven local port, customs and maritime officials were acquitted from charges over their role in the affair. No representatives from the Dutch-based international oil trader, Trafigura, which had chartered the Panamanian-registered Probo Koala vessel that unloaded the waste, were accused in the Abidjan trial that had opened late last month.
Trafigura had already agreed a nearly $200 million out-of-court compensation settlement with the Ivory Coast government which exempted it from legal proceedings. The company denies any responsibility for the deaths and illnesses suffered by Abidjan residents. Victims said full justice had not been done.
"They gave us a decision that has not hit the right people," Denis Pipira, president of the association representing victims, told Reuters in Abidjan. "There is no will to serve the victims. This is shocking and unacceptable. They should have also charged Trafigura. They did not jail those who allowed the waste in," Pipira said.
Defence lawyers in the Abidjan hearings repeatedly complained that it was unfair for their clients to be in the dock when executives from Trafigura were not on trial. "Mr Salomon (Ugborugbo) did not know this product was toxic, but Trafigura, who were exempted from the case, did know it was toxic," said Ugborugbo's defence lawyer, Diabate Bamba Oule, who added he would appeal against the sentence against his client.
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