Crans-Montana massacre, court releases Jacques Moretti from prison
The owner of Le Constellation bar paid a bail of 200,000 francs
The Court of Coercive Measures in Sion has ordered the release of Jacques Moretti, owner of the Constellation, in Crans-Montana, where 40 people died and 116 were injured on New Year's Eve. The man - together with his wife Jessica Maric - is being investigated for manslaughter, injury and arson. The man, who paid a bail of 200,000 francs, will nevertheless be subjected to precautionary measures such as being required to sign and hand over his identity papers. 'I am outraged, I consider it an outrage to the memory of the victims and an insult to their families,' says Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, announcing that the government 'will hold the Swiss authorities to account'.
No to an extraordinary prosecutor
The Public Prosecutor's Office of the Canton of Valais, which is investigating the fire that broke out on New Year's Eve in the Le Constellation bar in Crans-Montana, Switzerland, killing 40 people, said in a note signed by Prosecutor General Beatrice Pilloud that the Public Prosecutor's Office 'reserves the right to extend the investigation to all persons whose criminal responsibility may be involved'. For now, only Jacques and Jessica Moretti, owners of the club, remain under investigation. There will be no special prosecutor to investigate the tragedy, the prosecutor's office in Sion reported in a statement signed by Attorney General Beatrice Pilloud and quoted by the Swiss press. The public prosecutor's office points out that it met on 19 January to decide on this request, which was submitted by several lawyers of the victims' families, and says it believes that "there is no reason, neither objective nor legal, that justifies the appointment of an extraordinary prosecutor". "The Central Office of the Public Ministry of the Canton of Valais, which has been entrusted with the file, is responsible for cases of particular importance, in particular crimes relating to major or extraordinary events with a strong media impact," the public prosecutor's office says, adding that "additional staff is being recruited".
The injured
Seventy of the 116 people injured in the fire are still in hospital in Switzerland and abroad. This was reported by the federal authorities and Swiss hospitals. In particular, 26 people are injured in Swiss hospitals: 12 in Zurich, 10 in Lausanne, two in Valais and two in Geneva. The Federal Office for Civil Protection told Afp that another 44 people remain in specialised facilities in Germany, Belgium, France and Italy.
