Owners of Swiss fatal fire bar break silence

The owners of the bar Le Constellation in Crans-Montana (canton of Valais), where a tragic fire broke out on New Year's Eve, do not want to shirk their responsibility. This is clear from a statement they sent to the AFP news agency via their lawyers. Keystone-SDA

The owners of a Swiss bar that caught fire on New Year's Eve, claiming multiple lives, have pledged to cooperate with an ongoing investigation.

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“We are devastated and full of grief,” the owners of the Constellation bar in Crans-Montana, wrote in a statement to the AFP news agency.

+ Swiss media question safety regime following fatal fire at bar

It was the couple’s first public statement after the Valais public prosecutor’s office opened a criminal investigation against them on Saturday for involuntary manslaughter, involuntary bodily harm and negligently causing a fire.

In the statement sent by their lawyers, the couple assured that they had full confidence in the investigators and would cooperate with the probe.

“You can be assured that we will co-operate fully with them in this regard and that we will not attempt to shirk our responsibilities in any way,” the couple stated.

They added that their “constant thoughts” are with the victims, their families and the injured and praised the “courage” of the rescue workers.

Known to judiciary

According to media reports, one of the couple – the husband – was known to the French judiciary for pimping. He was allegedly arrested in 2005 in the Savoie department south of Geneva and sentenced to prison in 2008.

According to the French daily newspaper Le Dauphiné Libéré, based in Grenoble, he was accused of recruiting young women in France to work in a massage parlour in Geneva. The same source reported that JM’s conviction was linked to a ban on running a business in France.

According to another source familiar with the case, JM was charged in seven other cases, notably for fraud, without a conviction.

Following the fire disaster in their bar in Crans-Montana, the couple were neither remanded in custody nor placed under house arrest in Valais.

Adapted from German by DeepL/mga

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