Supreme court upholds sentence of company heads responsible for red sludge disaster

The Kuria, Hungary's supreme court, upheld the prison sentence of the leaders of MAL Zrt, the alumina factory at the root of a red-sludge spill in October 2010. Ten people died and some 200 were injured when a reservoir burst at the MAL plant in Ajka, in western Hungary, and three villages became temporarily uninhabitable. MAL was fined 135 billion forints (EUR 374m) in 2011 for environmental damage resulting from the spill. The three men found responsible for the disaster worked as MAL's CEO, its deputy CEO and plant manager at the time. They are currently serving their sentences handed to them by the Gyor appeals court last year.