Top court prosecutor reopens community claim against PPC in Kozani
A Greek Supreme Court prosecutor rescinded a decision by an appeals court which acquitted Public Power Corporation officials for polluting the environment in Kozani, NW Greece, a major site of lignite mines and lignite-powered electricity plants.
An appeals misdemeneanor court had acquitted three PPC managers after the presidents of the communities of Agios Dimitrios, Ryaki, and Akrini sued PPC over the high concentrations of hexavalent chromium found in the drinking water. In the original suit filed in 2013, they claimed the water pollution was a result of ash produced by the thermal power station at Agios Dimitrios.
The western Macedonia appeals court found two former managers of PPC’s South Field Mine not responsible for the presence of hexavalent chromiumand, and written off the case of a third one due to the statute of limitations. All three had been read charges of undermining the environment and of bad management of the ash.
Deputy Supreme Court prosecutor Charalambos Moyssidis, responsible for envirionmental issues, said his decision was based on lack of specialized and factual justification for the acquittals.
[AMNA]
