Crans-Montana fire: new municipal officials targeted by the investigation

The investigation into the fire in a bar in the Swiss resort of Crans-Montana, which left 41 dead and 115 injured on New Year's Eve, was extended to four officials and former municipal officials, we learned Thursday from consistent sources.

These new accusations, revealed by the Keystone-ATS press agency the day after a third series of hearings, bring to 13 the number of people targeted by the criminal investigation, the public ministry of Valais (western Switzerland) confirmed to AFP.

The current municipal councilor responsible for security in Crans-Montana, the deputy head of the public security department, as well as a former municipal councilor responsible for security (between 2013-2016) and the former president of the neighboring commune of Chermignon (2009-2016) will be heard between May 11 and June 3, sources close to the case said.

The main suspect in the investigation, Jacques Moretti, a Frenchman and co-owner with his wife Jessica of the Le Constellation bar, must, for his part, be heard again on June 5, according to the same sources. His last hearing, scheduled for April 7, was postponed after the submission of medical certificates by his lawyers.

"We must salute the progress of the investigation and the sustained pace of the hearings carried out. We are moving forward and, for the families, it is more than valuable", reacted to AFP Mr. Romain Jordan, a lawyer for the civil parties.

These announcements come in the wake of a new wave of hearings carried out over the last two weeks with managers or former managers of Crans-Montana, including the current mayor Nicolas Féraud, the municipality having recognized the absence of security and fire controls in the bar since 2019. These checks are supposed to be carried out every year.

- No extraordinary prosecutor

On Monday, Mr. Féraud avoided any responsibility on his part by affirming before the magistrates that he had not been alerted to these failings and that he had given the necessary means to his services to ensure these checks.

The tragedy which occurred in the middle of the New Year's Eve celebration left 41 dead and 115 injured, mainly teenagers and young adults, including many foreigners, particularly Italians and French.

According to the latest figures provided by the Federal Office of Civil Protection, 38 patients are still hospitalized or in a rehabilitation center, half of whom are abroad.

The first elements of the investigation show that the fire was started by sparks from "fountain" candles which ignited sound-absorbing foam on the ceiling of the basement of the bar.

In a press release released Thursday, the public ministry also announced the rejection by its office of a request from Me Garen Ucari, the lawyer for the family of a victim, demanding the appointment of one or more trial