Trial over 2017 Bondo rockslide: four accused remain silent in Pontresina
The trial for manslaughter by negligence linked to the Bondo disaster, which claimed eight lives in 2017, opened on Monday in Pontresina. Only former mayor Anna Giacometti agreed to answer questions in court.
Bondo rockslide: five accused before Maloja regional court
Nine years after the disaster of 23 August 2017, the trial for manslaughter by negligence linked to the deadly Bondo rockslide began on Monday in Pontresina, in the canton of Grisons. According to Le Temps, five people are appearing before the Maloja regional court, including two representatives of the canton, an external geologist and two representatives of the municipality of Bregaglia, of which the village of Bondo is part.
The rockslide claimed eight lives on the morning of 23 August 2017. The trial must establish whether, at the time of the events, a landslide of such magnitude was foreseeable within a span of days, weeks or months. The public prosecutor is calling for "an appropriate sentence" in the event of a conviction.
Four accused refuse to speak
During the first day of proceedings, the five defendants were questioned. Four of them refused to answer questions from the court. One of the representatives of the Grisons environmental office limited himself to referring to the assessments he had already presented to the cantonal police in 2018 as co-author of a report.
Only Anna Giacometti, PLR national councillor and former mayor of Bregaglia, took the floor before the court.
Giacometti invokes expert opinions
During her questioning, Anna Giacometti discussed the expert assessments available at the time. She stated that she had not participated in the risk assessment and had consistently relied on the recommendations of the competent specialists. For this reason, she explained, the closure of hiking trails in the region had not been considered.
Giacometti specified that such a closure could theoretically have been put in place within a few hours. In the absence of recommendations to that effect, the measure had not been discussed, however. She indicated that she had always complied with the opinions of the experts appointed.
Source: Le Temps