The investigation of the possibility that an ex officio appeal may be filed as to 15 defendants acquitted for Mati, requests in today’s order to the Director of the Athens Appeals Prosecutor’s Office, the Prosecutor of the Supreme Court, Georgia Adilini. In her order, Ms Adilini states:
‘To the Director of the Athens Appeals Prosecutor’s Office
Please investigate the ex officio exercise by you of the legal remedy of appeal as regards the persons acquitted by the decision of the Athens Trial Court for Mati, as well as as as regards the recognition of extenuating circumstances for those convicted by the same decision, the individual sentences imposed on them and the manner in which the sentences were served in general.
The Prosecutor of the Supreme Court,
Georgia Efth. Adilini.’
The high-profile trial for the national tragedy at Mati ended yesterday, with the victims’ relatives erupting in anger at the sentences. Particularly when it was announced that the six culprits would be released, buying off their sentences, some of the relatives went on a rampage in the courtroom, and some of the relatives even threw chairs, shouting “scoundrels” at the judges as they left the courtroom.
Justice is now engaged in an unprecedented race as the goal is for the prosecution to be in a position in June to determine the trial in the second instance for those convicted to appeal and for those acquitted to have their appeal requests accepted by those killed and burned in the national tragedy – before six years have passed since the tragedy.
Earlier, the president of the court that handed down the judgment will be asked to be relieved of other duties so that she can devote the next month exclusively to drafting the reasons for the judgment and the trial transcripts.
However, the reactions to the sentences continue, having taken a political tone, with Justice Minister George Florides stressing that the trial for Mati was conducted under legislation that was formed in 2019, with provisions more favorable to the defendants.
The sentences:
The Three-Member Misdemeanors Court of Athens imposed prison sentences ranging from 111 years to 3 years on the six guilty parties in the Mati fire, but only 5 years are assessable.
At the same time it was announced that the sentences are redeemable at 10 euros per day, a decision that caused strong protests in the courtroom with police officers restraining relatives who were heading towards the court and the defendants, while some of the relatives also threw chairs.
Each of the six convicts after the court ordered them to pay about 40,000 euros after buying back their sentences.
Specifically, the court imposed the following sentences on the six guilty parties:
Sotiris Terzoudis, Chief of Operations of the Fire Brigade, was given a prison sentence of 111 years with an estimated sentence of 5 years
Vassilis Mattheopoulos, Deputy Chief of Operations of the Fire Corps, received a 15-year prison sentence of 111 years, with a maximum of 5 years.
To Ioannis Fostieris, Commander of the Unified Coordination Centre for Operations, a prison sentence of 111 years and 5 years’ imprisonment.
Nikos Panagiotopoulos, Commander of the Athens Fire Brigade Command, 111 years imprisonment, 5 years and 5 years since then.
Charalambos Chionis, Commander of the East Attica Fire Brigade, 111 years imprisonment and 5 years imprisonment.
To Konstantinos Angelopoulos, a resident who allegedly set the fire a prison sentence of 3 years.
Earlier the court found 6 of the 21 defendants guilty with relatives of victims in the courtroom shouting “shame on you” to the court. “Good for you, good for you, have you lost a child?”, “all innocent, they should have gone to jail on their own,” the victims’ relatives shouted.
In particular, in its decision the court partially adopted the prosecution’s proposal and declared them guilty:
– Sotiris Terzoudis then chief of the fire brigade (manslaughter by negligence and bodily harm by negligence for the helicopter diversion)
– Vassilis Mattheopoulos, then deputy chief of the Fire Brigade (manslaughter by negligence for the death of 9 people at sea),
– Ioannis Fostieris, then head of ESKE (manslaughter by negligence)
– Nikolaos Panagiotopoulos then Commander of Athens Fire Services (manslaughter by negligence for 102 people, bodily injury by negligence for 32 people),
– Charalambos Chionis then Commander of the Fire Services of Eastern Attica (manslaughter by negligence for 102 people, bodily injury by negligence for 32 people) and
– Konstantinos Angelopoulos, a resident from whose yard the fire started.
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The court recognised Sotiris Terzoudis, Ioannis Fostieris, Nikolaos Panagiotopoulos and Charalambos Hionis as having a mitigating circumstance of prior legal life. Earlier, the prosecutor proposed to recognize the mitigating circumstance of previous legal life to S. Terzoudis, Ioannis Fostieris, Nikolaos Panagiotopoulos and Charalambos Hioni, while he recommended to reject the mitigating circumstances for V. Mattheopoulos and K. Angelopoulos.
