Defence seeks acquittal in Swiss landslide trial

Bondo (GR) landslide: the defence calls for acquittals Keystone-SDA

On the second day of the trial over the Bondo landslide in canton Graubünden, the defence called on Tuesday for the defendants to be acquitted. Former Bregaglia mayor and parliamentarian Anna Giacometti (Radical-Liberal Party) had acted in line with expert advice, her lawyer argued.

Appearing before the Maloja Regional Court, which is sitting in Pontresina for the trial, the politician’s lawyer rejected any suggestion that his client was at fault. He argued that the charges against her were entirely unfounded. On Monday, the prosecutor sought suspended fines for the defendants, who are accused of negligent homicide in connection with the rockslide of August 23, 2017 that claimed eight lives.

No recommendation to close the trails

Regarding the decision not to close the hiking trails in the Bondasca Valley, the former mayor said she had relied on the assessments of specialists at Graubünden’s Office for Forests and Natural Hazards, as well as advice from an external geologist, her lawyer told the court.

The decision not to close the footpaths was taken nine days before the disaster, with no recommendation to do so at the time. Representatives of the municipality and cantonal authorities were involved in the decision-making process.

Mayor unaware of email exchange

Furthermore, Giacometti had not been made aware of an email exchange between the cantonal office for natural hazards and an external geologist a few days earlier, her lawyer said. The possibility of closing the footpaths had been raised in the correspondence. However, he argued that local authorities must be able to rely on expert advice and cannot assess the level of danger themselves.

“My client was charged solely because she was the mayor of the municipality at the time of the events,” said the lawyer, arguing that this indictment was entirely arbitrary. He stressed that decisions taken by municipal executive committees are made collectively.

Her lawyer also noted that, immediately after the disaster, the then mayor travelled to the village of Bondo with a municipal employee to warn residents and urge them to leave the area. He also criticised the canton, which maintains that it is not responsible for the recommendations.

Earlier, the lawyer representing the municipal forest ranger also called for his client’s acquittal. Prosecutors accuse him of underestimating the risk and failing to recommend the closure of the footpaths, despite having a duty of care. His lawyer rejects that claim, arguing that his client did not have the specialist expertise needed to predict rockfalls.

Inevitable residual risk

Defence lawyers generally rejected any suggestion that their clients were responsible for the disaster or had the specific expertise that could have prevented the hikers’ deaths. Earlier in the day, the lawyer for one of the two cantonal employees also criticised what he described as a “lack of differentiation” in the indictment.

In his view, responsibility for the safety of the hiking trails rests with the municipality of Bregaglia. He argued that the cantonal Office for Forests and Natural Hazards is responsible only for providing technical data, not for making recommendations.

The lawyer representing the other cantonal official argued that none of the defendants could have foreseen the rockslide at Piz Cengalo. As a result, he said, none could be held responsible for such a residual risk. “If every residual risk of a rockslide had to be eliminated, entire areas of Graubünden would become uninhabitable,” he added.

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Translated from French, reviewed by an English Department journalist.