Appearing after the closed court hearing reviewing the case, Zoltani Bakonyi's lawyer, Janos Banati, said the judge ruled in his favor 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.
Banati said prosecutors were preparing an appeal.
An aerial view of Kolontar village covered by toxic red mud, 164 kms southwest of Budapest, Hungary, Tuesday, Oct. 12, 2010 after the dyke of a reservoir containing red mud of an alumina plant in nearby Ajka broke eight days earlier, and over one million cubic meters of the poisonous chemical sludge inundated three villages, killing eight people and injuring over hundred.
An aerial view of Kolontar village covered by toxic red mud, 164 kms southwest of Budapest, Hungary, Tuesday, Oct. 12, 2010 after the dyke of a reservoir containing red mud of an alumina plant in nearby Ajka broke eight days earlier, and over one million cubic meters of the poisonous chemical sludge inundated three villages, killing eight people and injuring over hundred.
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. Some 700,000 cubic meters (184 million gallons) of caustic sludge and water burst from a storage pool of a metals plant Oct. 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.
In a bit of good news, authorities said that cracks in the wall of the broken reservoir appear not to have grown wider, calming some fears that further collapse would release a second flood of sludge.
One village remained evacuated Wednesday and residents in Devecser were ready to leave on short notice. But Toldi said he hoped the state of alert could be called off later in the day once a protective wall in neighboring Kolontar meant to contain any new spill had been completed.
The National Disaster Management Directorate, meanwhile, said that the death toll had risen to nine after an elderly man died overnight. Of the more than 100 hurt by the caustic slurry, around 50 people remained hospitalized.
Banati said Wednesday's ruling reflected defense arguments that the company had emergency plans that had been approved by government authorities and that did not need updating when Bakonyi took over two years ago. He also said he knew of no incriminating testimony against Bakonyi from employees of his firm.
Bakonyi is the managing director of MAL Rt., or the Hungarian Aluminum Production and Trade Company, which owned the reservoir, part of the Ajkai Timfoldgyar plant in Ajka, 160 kilometers (100 miles) southwest of Budapest.
The red sludge that spilled after a part of the reservoir wall partially collapsed is a highly caustic byproduct of alumina production which is used to make aluminum.
The government took over the company on Tuesday, and said the Ajka subsidiary of MAL could restart production by the end of the week under its supervision.
While some local waterways were declared dead in the wake of the spill, the Danube appeared to be suffering little immediate ecological damage due to its massive volume.
Cracks run along the surface of red mud in the reservoir near Ajka, 164 kms southwest of Budapest, Hungary, Tuesday Oct. 12, 2010, after a dyke of a reservoir containing red mud of an alumina plant in nearby Ajka broke eight days earlier, and over one million cubic meters of the poisonous chemical sludge inundated three villages, killing eight people and injuring over hundred.
Soldiers wash red sludge from a worker in Deveczer, Hungary, Tuesday, Oct. 12, 2010. Hungarian police have detained the director of the aluminum company responsible for a flood of caustic red sludge that killed eight people and injured more than hundred when it burst from its reservoir last week, according to the prime minister
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