![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/IMG_4332.webp\")
The Bondo landslide killed 8 people in 2017. | Image: Keystone<\/p>\n\t\tThe Bondo landslide killed 8 people in 2017. | Image: Keystone<\/p>\n
Nearly nine years after a massive mountain collapse above Bondo, Switzerland, killed eight people, five people will go on trial Monday accused of multiple counts of negligent homicide. The trial, which will take place at the Rondo Congress and Cultural Center in Pontresina, Graub\u00fcnden, concerns the August 23, 2017, landslide on the northeast flank of Piz Cengalo above the municipality of Bregaglia.<\/p>\n
Among the defendants is Anna Giacometti, who was mayor of Bregaglia at the time of the disaster and was later elected to Switzerland\u2019s National Council as a member of the FDP in 2019. Two geologists, a forestry engineer, a forester and Giacometti are accused of failing to properly assess the danger in the days leading up to the collapse and, as a result, leaving hiking routes open.<\/p>\n
The five defendants deny the allegations, and the presumption of innocence applies to all of them.<\/p>\n
On August 23, 2017, approximately 3 million cubic meters (106 million cubic feet) of rock broke away from the northeast flank of Piz Cengalo at an elevation of around 3,000 meters (9,843 feet). The enormous rock avalanche also tore away a significant portion of a small glacier, sending a torrent of rock, ice and debris racing down Val Bondasca toward Bondo.\u00a0According to the indictment, the debris buried a 1.5- to 2-kilometer (0.9- to 1.2-mile) section of hiking trail, with deposits reaching between 15 and 20 meters (49 to 66 feet) deep.<\/p>\n
Eight people from Switzerland, Germany and Austria were caught in the debris and killed.<\/p>\n
The disaster prompted a major evacuation and became one of the most significant mountain disasters in Switzerland in recent years.<\/p>\n
The central question at trial will be whether the danger could have been recognized in the days before the collapse and whether officials should therefore have closed access routes into Val Bondasca. According to the indictment, several warning signs were allegedly not properly recognized. These included accelerating movement rates detected by annual radar measurements, which prosecutors say represented a significant change in the behavior of the unstable rock mass.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/IMG_4331.webp\")
An aerial shot of the 2017 Bondo landslide. | Image: Keystone<\/p>\n
Rockfall activity also increased during the two weeks preceding the collapse. Major rockfalls occurred on August 12, 13 and 21, while rockfall activity on the northeast flank was described as elevated. Prosecutors also allege that the upper section of the unstable area had become significantly loosened by ongoing movement.<\/p>\n
The prosecution argues that these developments should have led officials to take precautionary measures and close hiking routes into Val Bondasca. According to the indictment, the failure to implement such a closure left people exposed when the mountain finally collapsed. The defendants are accused of multiple negligent homicides.<\/p>\n
Whether those allegations can be proven in court remains to be determined.<\/p>\n
The case has taken years to reach trial. The Graub\u00fcnden Public Prosecutor\u2019s Office initially discontinued the criminal proceedings in 2019, concluding that criminal conduct could not be established because the mountain collapse could not have been predicted to the extent necessary for criminal liability. Relatives of the victims challenged that decision.<\/p>\n
The case ultimately reached Switzerland\u2019s Federal Court, which accepted the appeal and sent the matter back for further examination. Following the ruling, the public prosecutor\u2019s office commissioned a new geological report. That renewed investigation eventually led to charges against the five defendants.<\/p>\n
The five defendants include two geologists, a forestry engineer, a forester and the former mayor of Bregaglia, Anna Giacometti. One of the geologists and the forestry engineer worked for the Office for Forest and Natural Hazards of the Canton of Graub\u00fcnden at the time of the disaster.\u00a0Giacometti was serving as mayor of Bregaglia when the landslide occurred. She subsequently entered national politics and was elected to the Swiss National Council in 2019 as an FDP representative.<\/p>\n
The prosecution alleges that the defendants collectively failed to respond appropriately to the warning signs before the collapse. In particular, prosecutors argue that they should have ordered a precautionary closure of access routes into Val Bondasca.<\/p>\n
11 people are listed as private plaintiffs in the indictment. They are relatives of people who died in the Piz Cengalo disaster. The criminal proceedings therefore involve not only questions of geological forecasting and public safety, but also the families\u2019 search for accountability following the deaths. The prosecution\u2019s requested penalties have not been publicly announced ahead of the trial. According to the indictment, prosecutors will present their sentencing requests during the main hearing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Bondo landslide killed 8 people in 2017. | Image: Keystone Nearly nine years after a massive mountain…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":119367,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[4],"tags":[54835,17],"class_list":["post-119366","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-switzerland","tag-landslide","tag-switzerland"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ch\/117144331793651949","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119366","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=119366"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119366\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/119367"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=119366"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=119366"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=119366"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}