Crans-Montana: bar owner Moretti to be released from custody

Jacques Moretti can be released from custody Keystone-SDA

Jacques Moretti, owner of the Crans-Montana bar that was the site of a deadly fire on January 1, has been released from custody. The court announced the cancellation of his pre-trial detention on Friday after payment of bail.

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The court set bail at CHF200,000 ($249,000), an amount requested by the public prosecutor’s office and deemed appropriate and dissuasive by the compulsory measures court (Tribunal du Magistrature). The sum was transferred to the account of the Public Prosecutor’s Office on the same day, it added.

The court reached this conclusion after “a new assessment of the risk of flight and after examination of the origin of the funds and the nature of the relationship between the accused and the person who paid this amount, who is one of his close friends,” the court added.

The court did not announce the time or date of Jacques Moretti’s release, insisting that he would not answer any questions.

The court had ordered pre-trial detention for an initial period of three months due to the flight risk. Moretti had been at the Iles de Sion prison since January 9.

Several conditions

“In place of pre-trial detention, the court… ordered the following alternative measures, designed to counter the risk of flight presented by the defendant,” the court further stated.

“These are the classic measures consisting of a ban on leaving Swiss territory, the obligation to deposit all identity and residence documents with the Public Prosecutor’s Office, the obligation to report daily to a police station and therefore the obligation to pay security deposits.”

The court reiterated that every accused person is presumed innocent until a judgment of conviction becomes final. “The cardinal principle in Swiss criminal procedure is therefore that the accused remains free until their trial; pre-trial detention can only be ordered in exceptional cases as a last resort to ensure the proper conduct of the investigation,” it emphasised.

“Thus, if less coercive measures than pre-trial detention achieve the same result, these (so-called alternative) measures must be ordered instead of detention. Finally, it is emphasised that the pre-trial detention suffered by the defendant to date was not intended to punish him,” the court further specified.

Incomprehension

Jacques Moretti is the owner of the Le Constellation bar, where 40 people died and 116 were seriously injured in a fire on New Year’s Eve.

Romain Jordan, the lawyer for several victims’ families, immediately reacted to the court’s decision in a statement: “I do not comment on the issues of pre-trial detention. Regarding the investigation, my clients note that once again, no consideration is being given to the risk of collusion and the disappearance of evidence, a risk which greatly worries them and compromises the integrity of the investigation.”

Translated from German and French by AI/jdp

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