ROME: Italy formally protested on Saturday the release on bail of the owner of a Swiss club engulfed in a deadly New Year's Day fire and recalled its ambassador to Switzerland, as the court's decision came under criticism in both countries. Jacques Moretti and his wife Jessica are under investigation for negligent homicide and other crimes linked to the blaze that killed 40 people and injured more than 100, many of them teenagers.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni overnight called Moretti's release "an affront to the memory of the victims... and an insult to their families". Six of those killed in the blaze were Italian as were 10 of the injured. A government statement on Saturday said Meloni and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani instructed Italy's ambassador to immediately contact Beatrice Pilloud, the chief prosecutor in Switzerland's Valais canton, to convey Italy's "strong indignation" over Moretti's release. It added that the court had taken the decision despite the seriousness of the alleged crime, the risk of flight and the possibility of evidence being compromised. — AFP
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