After being postponed in March and again in July for various reasons, the owner of Medusa Beach, Austrian national Christian Arnsteiner, is set to appear at Palma’s Court of First Instance No. 9 on 11 November. This will be his second opportunity to provide his account of the tragic incident. On his first appearance, just hours after his arrest by the National Police, he exercised his right to remain silent. Arnsteiner faces charges of four counts of involuntary manslaughter and six of causing injury.
The legal proceedings are expected to be lengthy and complex, largely due to the numerous parties involved. Over recent months, many of those affected have submitted extensive documentation detailing the injuries they suffered and the assessment of damages. The fact that most of the victims are foreign nationals adds an extra layer of complexity, making it harder to expedite the case.
Christian Arnsteiner was arrested in June of last year by the National Police. After remaining silent during questioning, he was released. Subsequent investigations revealed that the terrace that collapsed did not have a licence, a detail later confirmed by Palma’s Mayor, Jaime Martínez, who also highlighted that “the 2023 Technical Building Inspection report returned an unfavourable result.”
All evidence seemed to point directly to Arnsteiner, who has lived on Mallorca for over thirty years and manages other venues in the Playa de Palma area. In the days following the tragedy, he issued a statement pledging to cooperate with the authorities “to understand what happened.”
On 11 November, he will have another chance to explain his version of events and shed light on what led to the Medusa Beach disaster, a tragedy that has had far-reaching consequences for the victims and the local community.