Swiss bar fire: Jacques Moretti to be questioned without his wife

Jacques Moretti, the owner of the Le Constellation bar in Crans-Montana, has been in pre-trial detention since mid-August. Keystone-SDA

Jacques Moretti will be questioned next Monday in Sion in connection with the deadly New Year's Eve fire at the Le Constellation bar in Crans-Montana. The team of prosecutors handling the case has decided not to summon his wife, Jessica.

The Office of the Attorney General of canton Valais had planned to question the Moretti couple, who own the bar in the Swiss resort, together. Prosecutors ultimately decided to change course, according to a letter sent on Tuesday, the Swiss public broadcaster RTS reported. This information was confirmed by the attorney general, Beatrice Pilloud, to the Keystone-ATS news agency on Wednesday.

Jacques Moretti has been in pre-trial detention since mid-August. The French national is suspected of violence against his wife. She did not wish to attend a hearing in his presence.

Risk of an adjournment

According to RTS, Yaël Hayat and Nicola Meier, Jessica Moretti’s lawyers, submitted to the attorney general’s office on Monday “a psychotherapeutic certificate” drawn up by a psychologist specialising in psychotherapy to enable her to avoid appearing next Monday, given “a particularly severe state of psychological vulnerability”.

Valais prosecutors have granted this request due to the risk that Monday’s hearing may be adjourned at the start of the cross-examination. Jacques Moretti will therefore answer questions from the prosecutors and the lawyers for the civil parties alone. The hearing of the two defendants, now scheduled for December 2, is going ahead as planned.

Eight former or current elected representatives

In total, the number of defendants involved in the case currently stands at 17. They comprise eight former or current elected representatives from Crans-Montana or the former municipality of Chermignon, and seven current or former employees of one or other of these two municipalities. Jessica and Jacques Moretti also feature on this list.

All the defendants face the same charges: manslaughter through negligence, causing bodily harm through negligence and arson through negligence. Since her last hearing in early June, Jessica Moretti has also been charged with forgery.

The bar fire tragedy in Crans-Montana left 41 people dead and 115 injured.

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Translated from French, reviewed by an English Department journalist. 

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