Swiss court orders pre-trial detention for bar manager over fatal fire

Jacques Moretti, one of the owners of the Le Constellation bar in Crans-Montana, where the deadly fire happened on New Year’s Day, is to be detained until trial after being ruled a ‘flight risk’ (Alessandro della Valle/Keystone via AP)

A Swiss court has ordered three months of pre-trial detention for the manager of a bar that burst into flames during a New Year’s Eve celebration, killing 40 people and injuring 116 others, many seriously.

The court of compulsory measures in the southwestern Valais canton, or region, ordered that Jacques Moretti, a manager of Le Constellation bar in Crans-Montana, be held because of a possible “flight risk” highlighted by prosecutors.