By Loucoumane Coulibaly
ABIDJAN (Reuters) - A court in Ivory Coast has jailed two men for 20 and five years over the 2006 dumping of toxic waste from a ship chartered by an international oil trader which killed 17 people and made thousands ill.
In the sentencing late Wednesday, Nigerian Salomon Ugborugbo, director of the local Tommy company which had used trucks to distribute the waste at open sites across the Ivorian commercial capital Abidjan, 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" in the same charge.
Seven local port, customs and maritime officials were acquitted of charges over their role in the toxic waste scandal which shocked the world's No. 1 cocoa producer and raised questions about the dumping of toxic materials in Africa.
No representatives from the Dutch-based international oil trader, Trafigura, which had chartered the Panamanian-registered Probo Koala vessel that unloaded the waste in Abidjan, were accused in the 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 in the West African country.
The company denies any responsibility for the deaths and illnesses suffered by Abidjan residents after the dumping.
When the Abidjan trial opened, Trafigura said in a statement it would present independent experts in due course to prove the waste could not have been responsible for their illness.
The petrochemical waste was described by Trafigura as "slops," residues from gasoline mixed with caustic washings.
Defense lawyers in the Abidjan hearings had repeatedly complained that it was unfair for their clients to be in the dock when executives from Trafigura were not on trial.
But the Dutch-based company faces a possible class action suit next year in London courts brought by a British law firm representing thousands of Ivorian victims seeking tens of millions of dollars in compensation.
Many victims have already been compensated from the out-of-court settlement, but many say they have not received enough compensation.
At the height of the scandal in 2006, Abidjan hospitals were overwhelmed as thousands sought treatment for vomiting, nausea, diarrhoea and breathing difficulties after exposure to noxious fumes.
(For full Reuters Africa coverage and to have your say on the top issues, visit: http://africa.reuters.com/)
(Writing by Pascal Fletcher; Editing by Giles Elgood)
