Rome (CNN) -- A Swiss man sentenced in an Italian court to a 16-year prison term in absentia over deaths of about 2,000 workers who prosecutors said were exposed to asbestos will appeal the ruling, his lawyer said Tuesday. Stephan Schmidheiny, the Swiss owner of the fiber-cement firm Eternit, was sentenced Monday alongside Belgian former executive and investor Jean Louis Marie Ghislain de Cartier de Marchienne. The pair were accused of failing to protect workers in the company's four Italian factories before they were shuttered in 1986. Schmidheiny's lawyer, Astolfo Di Amato, told CNN Tuesday that his client did not accept the sentence handed down by the court in Turin, an industrial hub in northwestern Italy.Stephan Schmidheiny will appeal his sentence in an Italian court, his lawyer saysSchmidheiny and a Belgian colleague are accused of failing to protect workers from asbestosSchmidheiny's lawyer says the sentence will deter other big firms from investing in ItalyExposure to asbestos can lead to lung diseases and cancer
The Italian Eternit company was declared bankrupt in 1986, when the _ plants were shut down, and the company's ownership changed in the 1990s.