Swiss-Italian ski course was not built illegally, rules judge

Zermatt/Cervinia: bulldozers on glacier for ski cup, all acquitted Keystone-SDA

Four defendants have been acquitted of illegally excavating an Italian glacier during preparations for the Zermatt-Cervinia Alpine Ski World Cup in 2022 and 2023.

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Among them is Swiss Franz Julen, president of the organising committee.

“The fact does not exist,” Aosta judge Maurizio D’Abrusco ruled today after an abbreviated trial. In addition to the main defendant, who is also president of the Zermatt ski lift company, Federico Maquignaz, president and general manager of Cervino spa, the company that manages the Italian slopes, his predecessor, Herbert Tovagliari, and the operator of the mechanical shovel that dug into the glacier were also on trial.

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Aosta prosecutors had asked for a four-month prison sentence and €3,600 (CHF3,400) fines. The defendants were charged with the unauthorised construction on a glacier for the construction of the ski run.

The judge “acquitted all the defendants because the fact does not exist. Of course I don’t know what the reasoning is. The formula makes me think that it depends on the fact that there was no need for authorisation for that work that is contested against us,” said Corrado Bellora, defense lawyer for the four defendants

The lawyer points out that the Italian body responsible for permits “on three occasions told us that authorisation was not necessary because it was a temporary work. We produced these documents: frankly, we were convinced that the prosecutor would drop the charges, instead he decided to keep them.”

Legal proceedings are also pending against the Zermatt-Cervinia race organizers in Switzerland as well for excavation work in a glacier, the Theodulglestscher, outside the perimetre in which the construction site was authorised.

The Canton Valais Cantonal Construction Commission (KBK/CCC) has determined that the men’s downhill slope occupies a larger area than the plans called for in the summit area. The KBK/CCC, at the urging of various environmental associations, had imposed a partial stop on some of the work.

The Gran Becca slope for the Ski World Cup starts on Swiss territory at an altitude of 3,720 metres below the Gobba di Rollin (on the border between Valais and Aosta Valley) and ends at 2,835 metres near the Cime Bianche Lakes (Italy), with a route mostly on glacier and two-thirds on Italian territory.

Competitions planned at the beginning of the season, in November in both 2022 and 2023, never took place due to lack of snow.

Translated from Italian by DeepL/mga

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