The guilty victims, those who should have controlled – like the managers of the place – justified or even put on the same level as the real victims. It’s narration in reverse Mr and Mrs Moretti questioned in recent days at the Sion prosecutor’s office about the New Year’s Eve massacre in their club Crans Montana.
It is difficult to find words in the face of such lightness and apparent indifference towards the victims: “It was an initiative of the kids,” said Jessica Moretti, referring to the waiters, one of whom even died, “in fact, I told him: please keep them like this, slanted”, he replied, referring to the bottles of champagne with the sparkling candles that started the fire in the Constellation that night, where 40 young people lost their lives and 116 were seriously burned.
Let’s be clear: the Morettis’ right to defend themselves from very serious accusations that will probably lead them to trial is not in question here but there is a way and way to do it.
When asked why she suggested holding the sparkling candles at an angle if she wasn’t aware that the ceiling could easily catch fire, Moretti responded: «Because I am very cautious. I remember well when my husband bought those panels and told me that they were compliant” referring to the position of her husband Jacques with whom, evidently, she agreed on the statements to be made before the investigators. Thus, once again, the responsibility is shifted to someone else: to the security personnel of the venue (one of whom died) who should have controlled the entry of minors: “The two security staff took care of it… I had given the kids instructions not to serve spirits to anyone who wasn’t 18.” Even regarding the escape from the club, Moretti denied everything: “I ran out, it’s true, but only to call the firefighters.”
In every passage of his declarations we notice a common thread: passing the buck. For Jessica Moretti, it’s always someone else’s fault. Not the owners, not the managers, not those who organized an evening without respecting the most basic safety standards. But also towards the Municipality, the reference is clear: «It is not our responsibility if the Municipality’s checks never prescribed the necessary corrections».
Crying for Cyane, the young waitress who died in the flames, is not enough to erase the emotional and moral distance that emerges from her words where there is no trace of even the slightest awareness of what happened, starting with the pain that has overwhelmed dozens of families and changed the lives of many young people.
If we add to this the fact that her husband Jacques Moretti – who could be released from prison in a few days after a person who asked to remain anonymous has collected the 200 thousand francs, equal to approximately 215 thousand euros, needed to pay the bail – said in the interrogation: «We too are victims of what happened. Of course”, he immediately pointed out, “we are not victims on the same level as the dead and injured but we too suffer deeply”, the picture that emerges is disturbing.
Broken lives and indelible wounds require more attention, prudence, responsibility. Instead, a single thread emerges from the declarations of the Moretti spouses: the desire to free themselves from any responsibility, an indifference that borders on outrage such as that of defining oneself as “victims” and which only serves to increase the pain and suffering of families mourning their dead children and of survivors.
