Overview
- The Regionalgericht Maloja on Friday acquitted five people charged with multiple counts of negligent homicide for the Piz Cengalo collapse that buried trails and killed eight hikers on 23 August 2017.
- Judges ruled prosecutors did not prove the large rockslide was clearly foreseeable in the weeks before the event, a legal threshold required to convict for criminal negligence.
- Coverage highlights conflicting pre-event assessments: an external geologist warned on 10 August 2017 that the route was dangerous, local inspections found no acute danger and authorities limited action to warning signs, while a later independent expert said the paths should have been closed.
- An early-warning system installed after earlier slope activity enabled timely evacuation of two mountain huts and about 100 residents of Bondo, but victims' families demanded deeper review and sparked a renewed investigation and trial.
- Experts link more frequent alpine rockfalls to permafrost thaw and glacier retreat, and the acquittal focuses attention on how municipalities and cantons share responsibility for warnings, path closures and expert review going forward.