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Court Confirms Pre-Trial Detention for Crans-Montana Bar Owner After New Year’s Fire

The detention follows a flight‑risk finding tied to a widening probe of critical safety failures.

Overview

  • A Sion coercive measures court ordered Jacques Moretti held for an initial three months, saying release is possible if specified securities are posted and stressing the presumption of innocence.
  • Prosecutors are investigating Moretti for suspected negligent homicide, negligent bodily injury and negligent causing of a fire, while his co-operator and wife, Jessica Moretti, remains free.
  • Initial findings indicate spark-emitting party fountains likely ignited foam ceiling material, with investigators and reports describing a fatal bottleneck on a staircase narrowed to about 1.37 meters and citing an unlit sign and a locked escape door.
  • The fire killed 40 people and injured about 116, with roughly 80 still hospitalized with severe burns, many of them young.
  • Authorities acknowledge the venue had not undergone required annual fire-safety inspections since 2019, and investigators have seized accounting records as they examine the operators’ rapid wealth accumulation.