Prosecutor seeks to boost probe into Mati fire tragedy

A senior appeals court prosecutor Yiannis Moraitakis on Wednesday requested a session of judicial officials to assign a special magistrate to oversee the ongoing investigation into last year’s disastrous wildfires in Mati, eastern Attica, that killed more than 100 people.

Moraitakis proposed the move citing the seriousness of the case to ensure that there is no further delay in probing the affair in which several local authority officials and former senior members of the state apparatus face criminal charges.

Meanwhile, the auction of a primary residence belonging to a family affected by the Mati fire, which sparked protests on Wednesday, was suspended following an intervention by Development and Investments Minister Adonis Georgiadis.

“Following my intervention to the Hellenic Bank Association (HBA), the auction in question was suspended,” Georgiadis was quoted as saying by the Athens-Macedonian News Agency. “We will not allow a tragedy to destroy a family.”