Crans-Montana: Italy's request to be an injured party is rejected

The public prosecutor's office in Sion has rejected the Italian Republic's request to join the Crans-Montana fire investigation as a civil party. The decision is dated 23 July.

The Italian state was represented by the Geneva lawyer Romain Jordan. The request sought recognition as an injured party in the proceedings opened in Valais.

Forty-one people died in the fire at the Constellation building, including six Italian minors. There were 115 injured, fourteen of them Italian.

The prosecutors' reasoning

The Valais prosecutors explained that neither the Italian citizenship of several victims nor the costs borne by the Italian Republic in assisting its nationals is enough to confer injured-party status.

The criterion they set out is narrower. For a state to be recognised as injured, it must be directly affected in its own personal rights, as a private individual would be. It is not enough for its public interests to be touched.

On this reading, injured-party status belongs to the direct victims, that is the people who were inside the building. It does not follow from the victims' nationality.

The investigation continues for negligent arson, negligent homicide and negligent grievous bodily harm. These are the offences for which the prosecutors are establishing any responsibility.

Injured-party status is not a formality. It gives access to the case file, the right to request that evidence be taken, and the ability to pursue civil claims before the criminal court.

Among the dead and injured are twenty people of Italian nationality: the six minors who died in the fire and the fourteen who were hurt. It was on that connection that the rejected request rested.

The decision concerns a state's procedural role, not the substance of the investigation. Those affected and their families can join the proceedings as civil parties in their own right.

It is not known whether the Italian Republic intends to appeal the decision. The prosecutor's office gave no timetable for closing the investigation.