Prosecutor targets nine over Mati fire
A prosecutor on Tuesday asked for guilty verdicts for nine of the 21 defendants in the trial regarding the response to the deadly fire that ripped through the East Attica town of Mati in July 2018, claiming 104 lives.
Prosecutor Panagiotis Maniatis recommended that the then chief of the Fire Department Sotiris Terzoudis and deputy chief Vassilis Matthaiopoulos, as well as the head of the Coordination Center Ioannis Fostieris, be found guilty. He also suggested a guilty verdict for pensioner Konstantinos Angelopoulos, who set the original fire at Dau Pentelis, rejecting his claims of innocence.
He recommended that the remaining 12 be acquitted, including then regional governor Renas Dourou and the mayors of the wider area, except for Evangelos Bournos who was then mayor of Rafina. Maniatis also recommended the acquittal of the then general secretary of Civil Protection, Ioannis Kapakis, as well as five other Fire Department officials who participated in the rescue operations.
The prosecutor decried the absolute chaos, the complete lack of coordination and any provision of the state apparatus to inform the residents in Mati.
The court’s decision is expected around mid-March.
