Trial for the Constellation fire: Jessica Moretti cries in the courtroom in Sion: «They destroyed us. But the audio messages reveal the instructions to the waiters.
«Only so many falsehoods have been said against us, we have been destroyed. We want to collaborate with justice.” After the tears she went on the attack Jessica Morettimaking a spontaneous statement at the opening of the hearing yesterday in the hall of the Sion Polytechnic, a hearing which saw her face to face with her husband Jacques Moretti.
The two, as owners, must answer for the crimes of manslaughter, negligent grievous bodily harm and negligent fire in the investigation into the massacre in the premises Constellationswhich burned down on New Year’s Eve Crans Montanain Switzerland, where 41 young people died, including 6 Italians, and 115 were injured. For the first time the couple was heard together with the formula of the comparison procedure, that is, answering the questions that were asked in the same room. Jacques also said that “he was very ill, so much so that he couldn’t even speak” after the tragedy.
The pain of the families and the protest of the civil parties
The deputy general prosecutor of the canton of Valais was present in the courtroom Catherine Seppey and around seventy lawyers for the civil parties, including the lawyer Romain Jordanappointed by the Italian government to form a civil party, in addition to the families of the victims and survivors. The lawyers contested the choice of procedure which would have given the two defendants the opportunity to agree on a common version and to the detriment of spontaneity. And he replied to Jessica’s “we were destroyed”. Laetitia Brodar-Sitremother of sixteen-year-old Arthur, who died in the fire. «Being destroyed, devastated means not being able to hug your children or having to look after them in hospital, this means being destroyed. I don’t believe that being investigated in a tragedy means experiencing destruction when you can return home, work alongside your husband and be able to hug your children every morning.”
During the interrogation, the prosecutor also charged Jessica Moretti with the crime of false documents. The charges concern a 2015 invoice relating to the purchase of sound-absorbing foam, with which the ceiling of the room was covered and which was not fireproof. The invoice, clearly falsified, shows the VAT in force in France although it was issued in Germany. The document, probably falsified for tax purposes, is dated 3 September 2015 and indicates an amount of 13,464 euros.
Suspicions about current accounts and the mystery of the Revolut card
The couple’s accounts still remain in the sights of the investigators following the report from France to the Valais prosecutor’s office. An informant, anonymously, had reported that a credit card Revolut it had been sent to Jessica. The card had no spending limits, which led the informant to suspect a possible link to money laundering. Another detail that emerged yesterday is about the champagne bottles with the luminous fountains that would have caused the fire. The employee Cyanne Paninewho later died, with the torches on the shoulders of a colleague was indicated as the one who unknowingly created the fire. The fireworks display was not a “spontaneous” initiative by the young waiters, but a practice organized in detail by the owner herself.
The WhatsApp audios deny the owners’ defense
During the interrogation, audio taken from a chat was played Whatsapp in which the owner gives precise instructions to the waiters on the choreography: “I would have liked it to be done” or “you could do it”. Then: «Be careful with the candles because, if they end up on the foam, they can burn the Constellation». These documents contrast with the version always supported by French entrepreneurs. “We have never forced anyone,” the woman reiterated. “It was a custom but when the parade took place there were always two waiters who were prepared to manage the situation,” Moretti defended herself. For the lawyer Romain Jordan, yesterday was “the last opportunity that the Moretti couple had to give answers to the victims on all the points that remain obscure or nebulous”.
