Prosecutor seeks guilty verdicts over Mati fire
The prosecutor in the ongoing trial regarding the response to the deadly fire that ripped through the East Attica suburb of Mati in July 2018 highlighted what he described as huge deficiencies in firefighting and aerial means, in coordination, prevention and extinguishing measures, holding the defendants responsible for criminal acts and omissions.
For the time being, Panagiotis Maniatis has recommended guilty verdicts for four defendants who were at the time high-ranking officials of the state apparatus.
His summation will continue on Tuesday, February 20 with a recommendation of guilty verdicts, or not, of 21 defendants regarding their response to the fire that claimed 103 lives.
More specifically, he proposed on Tuesday that the then commander of the Unified Operations Coordination Center (ESKE), Ioannis Fostieris, the then chief of the Hellenic Fire Service, Sotiris Terzoudis, and the then deputy chief, Vassilis Matthaiopoulos, be found guilty for a series of omissions that contributed to the failure to deal with the deadly fire.
He also proposed that Nikolaos Panagiotopoulos, then head of the Attica Fire Services, be found guilty for not recommending an organized preventive evacuation of residents.
“It was the second largest tragedy in terms of number of victims worldwide, there were dozens of dead, injured and burned in just two and a half hours,” he said.
