{"id":3180,"date":"2026-02-12T18:23:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-12T18:23:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/3180\/"},"modified":"2026-02-12T18:23:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T18:23:09","slug":"distraught-family-of-swiss-bar-fire-victim-yells-you-killed-my-son-at-owners-outside-court","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/3180\/","title":{"rendered":"Distraught family of Swiss bar fire victim yells \u2018you killed my son\u2019 at owners outside court"},"content":{"rendered":"

The grieving families of the victims of the Swiss bar fire that killed 41 people on New Year\u2019s Day<\/a> aired their fury at the owners of the club as they appeared at court for another day of questioning.<\/p>\n

As Jacques and Jessica Moretti arrived to testify<\/a> in Sion, Switzerland, on Thursday, they were swarmed by a crowd of angry relatives who blame them for the deaths at the Le Constellation bar in the Crans-Montana ski resort<\/a> on 1 January.<\/p>\n

Ms Moretti, 40, tried to pass through the gathering to cries of \u201cyou killed my son\u201d and \u201cyou are monsters\u201d. One father yelled: \u201cMy son is dead. He was burnt.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Jessica<\/p>\n

Jessica Moretti said that the owners of the bar were committed to answering the family\u2019s questions (AFP\/Getty)<\/p>\n

Fourteen-year-old Tobyas, wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with a photo of him and his 17-year-old brother Trystan Pidoux, who was killed in the fire, said: \u201cI\u2019m here to show Jessica Moretti that she destroyed families.\u201d<\/p>\n

A lawyer for the couple later described the confrontations as an \u201cattack\u201d on the Morettis, who had apparently sought to hear from the families before heading into a lengthy hearing in Valais.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was an attack,\u201d said laywer Nicola Meier. \u201dThere was a physical outburst; we didn’t expect the police to be absent.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ms Moretti broke down in tears in the courtroom on Thursday afternoon as she admitted that evacuation drills were \u201cnever conducted\u201d and \u201cnobody asked us to do them\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The owner of Le Constellation bar, Jessica (R) and Jacques Moretti (L) arrive at a hearing at the Office of the Public Prosecutor of the Canton of Valais in Sion (AFP\/Getty)<\/p>\n

Addressing the families of the victims, she said they had \u201ccommitted ourselves to answering the families\u2019 questions\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe understand your anger, your hatred. I reaffirm that we will be ready to answer every question; we will be there for you,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Mr Moretti was equally remorseful as he told the families: \u201cWe will take responsibility. We promise you, we are here for justice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ms Moretti insisted that her priority on the night of the tragedy had been to raise the alarm and evacuate people from the building, which erupted into flames when sparklers ignited soundproof foaming on the ceiling, according to early investigation work.<\/p>\n

\"Family<\/p>\n

Family members of the victims hug ahead of the hearing (Keystone)<\/p>\n

Fabrizio Ventimiglia, an Italian lawyer representing victims\u2019 families, said he wanted answers about not only safety protocols in the bar, but also whether alcohol had been sold to minors, and how many people were in the bar at the time.<\/p>\n

The owners of the bar were accused by authorities in January of manslaughter by negligence, bodily harm by negligence and arson by negligence as details began to emerge.<\/p>\n

A lawyer alleged that 24-year-old staff member Cyane Panine, who was identified carrying a champagne bottle with sparklers attached, had received no safety training and was unaware of the danger posed by the ceiling that caught alight.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A mother who lost her son in the fire confronts co-owner of Le Constellation (AFP\/Getty)<\/p>\n

The fire spread within seconds and emergency services arrived to find some of the victims collapsed next to a locked rear exit, according to police transcripts.<\/p>\n

Others were piled together near the main exit, which became a fatal chokepoint, while others died in the basement before they could flee, according to the transcripts and photographs from the case files.<\/p>\n

Four people are under investigation: the Morettis, and a former and a current local official. The Morettis and the town’s mayor, who admitted missed inspections, have expressed regret.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The fire broke out after sparklers attached to a champagne bottle set align foaming on the ceiling, investigations so far have suggested (X)<\/p>\n

The Swiss authorities also face growing scrutiny at home and abroad over their handling of the case. Some of the relatives of victims say their confidence has been shaken by the fact prosecutors did not order autopsies of all of the victims.<\/p>\n

Christian Pidoux, who convened the grieving families on Thursday and who has since received a preliminary autopsy report, said of his son, Trystan: “You have to ask: how did he die? Is it from burns? From smoke? Did people trample him?”<\/p>\n

Christophe de Galembert, Pidoux’s lawyer, said he had “very strong doubts about whether it will be possible to gather all the evidence now,” citing other missed opportunities to secure proof quickly, including only seizing the bar owners’ phones nine days after the fire.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The grieving families of the victims of the Swiss bar fire that killed 41 people on New Year\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3181,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[3031,3028,3025,3029,3027,41,3030,17,3026],"class_list":{"0":"post-3180","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-switzerland","8":"tag-christian-pidoux","9":"tag-jacques-moretti","10":"tag-jessica-moretti","11":"tag-le-constellation","12":"tag-ms-moretti","13":"tag-swiss","14":"tag-swiss-bar","15":"tag-switzerland","16":"tag-trystan-pidoux"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3180","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=3180"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3180\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3181"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3180"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3180"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3180"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}