Acquittal for all defendants in Bondo rock collapse tragedy of 2017
The Maloja regional court has acquitted five defendants in the case of the rock collapse on Piz Cengalo. Eight hikers died in 2017.
Court finds no authorities responsible for Bondo rock collapse
The Maloja regional court in the Swiss canton of Graubünden has acquitted five defendants of the charge of negligent homicide on Monday. According to the Süddeutsche Zeitung, the court found that the authorities bore no responsibility for the rock collapse of August 2017, in which eight hikers died on Piz Cengalo.
The court saw no evidence that there had been clear warning signs of an impending major event before the catastrophe. The central question during the proceedings was whether those responsible should have closed off the hiking trails. In the region, only warning signs had been posted. Among the defendants were a forester, a geologist, and the former commune president, who now serves as a member of the National Council.
The rock collapse occurred on 23 August 2017 on the 3,369-metre-high Piz Cengalo. Approximately three million cubic metres of rock fell into the valley and buried hiking trails under metres-high masses of debris. Subsequent mudslides destroyed buildings in the village of Bondo, located around four kilometres away. Four of the eight victims were German nationals.
Dorothea Barth, the daughter of one of the German victims, declared to the Deutsche Presse-Agentur before the verdict was announced that the family could accept an acquittal. It was above all important to the family that the circumstances surrounding the accident be properly documented in an expert report.
After an initial investigation, the proceedings had initially been discontinued – among other reasons with the justification that the rock collapse had not been foreseeable. The relatives of the victims appealed against this and questioned the quality of the first expert report. A newly commissioned expert concluded that closing off the hiking trails would have been appropriate – an assessment that the court apparently did not consider sufficient grounds for a conviction when reaching its verdict.
Source: Süddeutsche Zeitung