Closing summary
… and on that note, it’s a wrap for today!
The co-owner of the Swiss bar Constellation which saw a fire kill 40 during a New Year’s celebration, Jacques Moretti, was arrested and is held in custody after being questioned by prosecutors on Friday morning (15:33, 15:43, 16:16).
Switzerland held a national day of mourning on Friday, commemorating the victims of the fire with church bells ringing across the country for five minutes, and a minute of silence (16:04).
The Swiss media reported that the decision to detain Moretti was taken after a six-hour hearing, with prosecutors worried about him posing a flight risk (16:42).
In other news,
Russia’s military has fired its new hypersonic Oreshnik missile at a target in Ukraine during a massive overnight strike, leaving hundreds of thousands without energy and heat as temperatures plummet in the country (9:30, 9:38).
Ukrainian prime minister Yulia Svyrydenko accused Russia of “energy terror,” as the effects of the attack caused widespread disruption (9:53) and prompted Kyiv mayor to urge people to temporarily evacuate from the capital (11:19, 14:37).
European leaders condemned the attack, calling Russian strikes ‘escalatory and unacceptable,’ with Kremlin “using fabricated allegations to justify the attack” (12:05, 14:16, 14:57, 15:13).
And in Brussels,
European Union member states have backed the biggest ever free trade agreement with a group of Latin American countries (12:15), ending 25 years of negotiations but stoking further tensions with farmers and environmentalists around the bloc (13:10, 13:57).
France (15:28) and Poland were among the most prominent critics of the deal, but Italy’s change of heart was enough to unblock the agreement (15:27).
But Germany led the line of countries happy with the end of the 25-year negotiation process (12:45).
And that’s all from me, Jakub Krupa, for today.
If you have any tips, comments or suggestions, email me at [email protected].
I am also on Bluesky at @jakubkrupa.bsky.social and on X at @jakubkrupa.
Grief turns to anger over Swiss bar fire as Le Constellation owner arrested
Eight days have now passed and Switzerland is still struggling to process the scale of the event.
A national day of mourning was observed on Friday and a memorial ceremony attended by top European officials, including the French president, Emmanuel Macron, and his Italian counterpart, Sergio Mattarella, was held in a town close to Crans-Montana.
Swiss authorities have confirmed the total death toll at 40, the majority in their teens and 20s – the youngest 14 – and mostly from Switzerland, France and Italy. A further 116 were injured, 83 of whom are still being treated in hospital for severe burns.
Anger and dismay have meanwhile mounted as details on the cause of the fire and staggering lapses in safety procedures emerged.
Jacques Moretti, the French owner of the bar who together with his wife, Jessica, is under investigation for manslaughter through negligence, was arrested and held in custody after the couple were questioned by prosecutors in Sion on Friday morning, a source told the Guardian.
The couple, who bought the bar in 2015 before renovating it, have denied any wrongdoing and in a statement this week said they were “devastated and overwhelmed with grief” while promising “full cooperation” with the investigation.
The investigation is focusing on renovations made to the bar, the fire-extinguishing systems and escape routes, as well as the number of people in the building when the fire started.
In an astonishing admission on Tuesday, Nicolas Féraud, the mayor of Crans-Montana, said no safety inspections had been made on the premises since 2019. Furthermore, he could not explain why the annual inspections were not done despite the procedure being required by local law.
“We’re profoundly sorry, and I know how hard that will be for the families,” Féraud said, adding that his administration wanted to show “full transparency”.
