Jacques Moretti, a Swiss bar owner, faced questioning from lawyers representing victims’ families on Wednesday. The hearings are related to the New Year’s Day fire in Crans-Montana, a devastating incident that resulted in 41 fatalities and left 115 individuals injured.
Mr. Moretti arrived at the hearing in Sion accompanied by his wife, Jessica. Her lawyer, Yaël Hayat, characterized these proceedings as pivotal, describing them as “moments of truth.” Jessica Moretti is scheduled to be questioned on Thursday.
Prior to the hearings, a mother shared her urgent need to understand the sequence of events and identify the failures that led to the tragedy. “What’s important is that the whole truth comes out,” stated Laetitia Brodard-Sitre, whose 16-year-old son, Arthur, perished in the fire. Speaking to public broadcaster SRF, she emphasized, “There must be no more lies. I want everyone to take responsibility; politics and parties don’t matter to me.”
Both Jacques and Jessica Moretti are currently under a criminal investigation. They face charges of involuntary manslaughter, as well as bodily harm and arson attributed to negligence. Neither has been taken into custody; Mr. Moretti was released on bail last month.
The couple’s lawyer informed French radio that from the outset, they had maintained that neither party was attempting to evade accountability for their role in the tragedy. The incident occurred at Le Constellation bar, located in the popular Swiss ski resort of Crans-Montana. “They obviously bear responsibility for what happened, as it happened on their property and they were guardians of the premises,” Ms. Hayat explained to France Info. “So they bear that responsibility; even so, the inquiry must decide who is behind the tragedy.”
Since the fire, several former employees have criticized the couple concerning safety lapses. Initial findings suggest that sparkling candles placed in champagne bottles may have ignited the ceiling. Furthermore, footage has emerged depicting an employee using snooker cues to reposition sound-proofing foam on the ceiling mere weeks before the disaster.
There had been no fire inspection conducted at the establishment since 2019. Earlier in the week, the former security officer for Crans-Montana’s town hall testified that local authorities had not issued any fire-risk closures for establishments in the area until just last month. He stated that he had only inspected La Constellation on two occasions, in 2018 and 2019. The acoustic foam on the ceiling, now implicated in the rapid fire spread, was not considered part of his fire safety assessment.
Victim Impact and Unfolding Details
A significant number of those who perished in the New Year’s fire were teenagers; the ages of the deceased ranged from 14 to 39. Subsequent reports revealed that a service door had been locked, hindering escape for many individuals inside the bar as the fire rapidly intensified around 1:30 AM on New Year’s Day.
Approximately one month after the event, the death toll climbed to 41 when an 18-year-old Swiss man succumbed to his injuries. Just three days prior to Wednesday’s hearing, Mélanie Van de Velde, a survivor of the fire, published an open letter detailing the severity of her injuries. She described her body as having become “a battlefield,” sustaining 40% burns. “Every time the dressings [on my wounds] are changed, every two days, is an ordeal. Every treatment revives the pain,” she recounted on Facebook. “My face will never be the same again… the one my daughter recognised is also gone.” Ms. Van de Velde also questioned where justice was when responsibility had become “blurred, silent and diluted.”
Leila Micheloud, whose two daughters were injured in the blaze, addressed reporters outside the hearing in Sion. She stated that her presence was a testament to the fact that the victims were “not just names on a list but they too had faces.” Ms. Micheloud concluded, “I’ve made the choice to be here for my children, who are among the victims.”