Grieving parents protest at Swiss handling of autopsies for bar fire victims

By Emma Farge and Cecile Mantovani

PULLY, Switzerland, Feb 6 (Reuters) – As the parents of 17-year-old Trystan Pidoux, who died in the bar fire at the Swiss ski resort of Crans-Montana, prepared to bury their son, they waited for prosecutors to act on their request for an autopsy.

When they heard nothing, Vinciane Stucky and Christian Pidoux proceeded with plans to lay to rest their second child, who went to celebrate New Year’s Eve at Le Constellation Bar with friends and never returned.

But on the eve of the burial, medics arrived during the mother’s last vigil to take his body, forcing the family to cancel it and leave the pre-adorned grave empty, the parents and family lawyer told Reuters.

“It was like they were still stabbing us when we were already dead,” said his mother, Stucky, at their home in Pully, Western Switzerland, a short distance from where Trystan was buried three days later on January 16 alongside his best friend.

Prosecutors from the Valais canton declined to respond when approached by Reuters for comment on the family’s case, saying they only communicated through press releases.

CONFIDENCE SHAKEN

Due to his family’s request, Trystan was one of just a few of the victims – many of them teenagers on holiday – to undergo autopsies and only after Swiss authorities released the bodies, six sources following the case told Reuters.

Some of the relatives of the 41 people who died, and their legal representatives, say the fact prosecutors did not order autopsies of all the victims has shaken their confidence in the investigation.

Switzerland — already grappling with safety concerns over the fire — must now confront growing local and international doubts about its justice system.

The Swiss justice ministry declined comment, directing questions to prosecutors. Officials have stressed that the judiciary is independent and called for patience with the investigation into one of the country’s worst modern tragedies.

The Valais prosecutors, who are investigating crimes including negligent homicide, have previously defended their probe, saying they are expanding their team and have ordered searches, secured evidence and seized assets.

POSSIBLE EXHUMATIONS

Romain Jordan, a lawyer for more than 20 victims’ families, said some were now weighing requesting exhumations.

“When my clients recovered their child’s body, they believed that everything had been done. It is extremely disturbing and shocking to learn that, in reality, not everything was done and they may now have to exhume their child,” he said.

Italy, which has criticised the Swiss investigation, carried out its own post-mortem examinations on the six Italian victims because it had not been done before their bodies were repatriated, a source in Rome’s prosecutor’s office said.

Autopsies are normally carried out in all cases of violent, suspicious or sudden deaths at the request of prosecutors, according to Swiss forensic institute URMF.

“You have to ask: how did he die? Is it from burns? From smoke? Did people trample him?” said Christian Pidoux, who has since received a preliminary autopsy report via prosecutors. The document, seen by Reuters, showed dark material in his airways and burn marks, but gave no cause of death.

LOST EVIDENCE?

The fire – set off by sparklers carried by a bar worker sitting on the shoulders of a colleague – spread within seconds.

Some of the victims were found collapsed next to a locked rear exit, according to police transcripts reviewed by Reuters.

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.

Four people are under investigation, bar owners Jacques and Jessica Moretti and a former and a current local official. The Morettis and the town’s mayor, who admitted missed inspections, have expressed regret.

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. 

(Reporting by Emma Farge; Additional reporting by Crispian Balmer in Rome; Editing by Alex Richardson)