One minute past midnight on New Year’s Day, the mountain resort of Crans-Montana was still ringing with celebration. Within hours, the Le Constellation bar had become a tomb. Now, as the French couple who ran it face prosecutors once more, Switzerland waits to see whether this weekend’s hearings will bring answers – or more excuses.
“We want the truth, the whole truth”
Jacques and Jessica Moretti, the owners of the Le Constellation bar, are to be questioned again this Friday by Swiss authorities over the blaze that claimed 41 lives on January 1. The couple will face both prosecutors and lawyers representing the victims. According to Romain Jordan, an attorney for the civil claimants speaking to AFP, the format of the hearing will be “left to the discretion of the prosecutors.”
The canton of Valais’s cantonal police, relying on CCTV footage, assert that the fire started when sparks from candles ignited acoustic foam on the ceiling of the basement venue. With no effective alarm system, dozens of patrons trapped in the windowless basement died from toxic smoke. A further 115 people were injured.
A trail of negligence – and finger-pointing
The Morettis are among 14 individuals under criminal investigation for alleged involuntary manslaughter, involuntary bodily harm, and negligent arson. Jordan said ahead of the questioning: “Our expectations have not changed – we want answers, the truth, and a full chain of responsibility so that nothing like this ever happens again. This hearing is the last chance the Morettis have to tell the truth, the whole truth. The victims need that to begin healing.”
So far, investigators have been unconvinced by the couple’s explanations. At various points, the Morettis have shifted blame – first to an employee who supposedly locked a door by accident while carrying ice, then to a customer who moved a chair in front of an emergency exit to reach the toilet.
Jacques Moretti told Libération that he was “eagerly awaiting” the hearing to “fully restore the truth about what happened on January 1 and put an end to all the rumours.”
Legal limbo: Detention, bail and a travel ban
The hearings are taking place in Sion, the capital of the mountainous canton of Valais in south-western Switzerland. The Morettis have already been questioned twice since the criminal investigation was opened days after the fire. In January, Jacques Moretti spent two weeks in pretrial detention before being released on bail. A follow-up hearing scheduled for April 7 was postponed on medical grounds. The couple is also subject to a travel ban and other restrictions.
Twelve other individuals are under investigation, including several current and former elected officials and municipal employees. Shortly after the tragedy, local authorities admitted that no safety or fire code inspections had been carried out at the bar since 2019. Investigators are also examining whether the commune bears responsibility, alongside the owners’ fire prevention measures, and are working to establish a precise timeline of the disaster.
Most of the victims were Swiss citizens, but the dead also included nine French and six Italian nationals. Seventeen of those who perished were aged 16 or under.
