Lawyer wants actual imprisonment for tobacco manufacturers

Bénédicte Ficq, a lawyer from Amsterdam, wants actual prison sentences for tobacco manufacturers. Even though they deliberately harm smokers’ health, currently they usually are only fined, she complains.

Prosecutable offense

Ficq says she will also report it, because she considers it a prosecutable offense when tobacco manufacturers “deliberately and premeditatedly” harm the health of smokers. She will do this on behalf of her client, Anne Marie van Veen, who has lung cancer. Van Veen is still looking for fellow supporters through her website Sickofsmoking.nl.  

Over the past years, there have been plenty of court cases in the United States and Europe against tobacco companies because they held back proof about smoking’s damaging effects. The United States tobacco branch already settled in 1998, for a total sum of 206 billion dollars (190 billion euro).