Veszprem - A judge on Wednesday dismissed prosecution demands that the head of a metals company linked to Hungary's devastating red sludge spill be charged with negligence and he was released from police custody, his lawyer said.
The decision was sure to embitter hundreds of villagers who blame the management of MAL/Rt for the deaths of nine people, the hundreds of homes left uninhabitable and the poisoning of local waterways.
The judge ruled in company director Zoltan Bakonyi's favour after finding that prosecutors couldn't substantiate their argument that Bakonyi did not sufficiently prepare emergency warning and rescue plans in case of accidents like the sludge spill, his lawyer Janos Banati said.
Prosecutors were preparing an appeal, Banati said, appearing after the closed court hearing reviewing the case.
Bakonyi “remains perplexed by what may have caused the collapse of the reservoir”, Banati said, acknowledging that his client could later face other or similar charges.
About 700 000 cubic metres of caustic sludge and water burst from a storage pool of a metals plant on October 4, inundating three western Hungarian towns and spilling into the Danube.
“Life won't be returning to normal for a very, very long time,” said Devecser Mayor Tamas Toldi, whose town was one those swamped by the toxic slurry.
Authorities said cracks in the wall of the reservoir appear not to have grown wider, calming some fears that further collapse would release a second flood of sludge.
Interior Minister Sandor Pinter said Kolontar, the town closest to the reservoir, would remain evacuated until at least Friday. But the nearly completed construction of a protective wall there to contain any new spill meant residents in Devecser no longer had to be ready to leave on short notice. - Sapa-AP