The Court of Appeals has just issued a ruling denying any mitigating circumstances for the 10 individuals found guilty in the case of the deadly wildfire in Mati.

The decision was made by majority vote, as the presiding judge believed that some of the 10 should have been granted leniency.

Following this, the prosecutor proposed a sentence of 4 years for each count of manslaughter and 3 years for each count of bodily harm for those convicted. For the resident of Penteli, the prosecutor recommended upholding the original sentence of 3 years.

The prosecutor argued for these sentences “considering the magnitude of the damage, the deaths and serious injuries, the fact that the defendants were experienced and specialized officers, and the expectation of the state that such individuals should be capable of handling critical decisions, particularly those affecting human lives.”

Yesterday, the following individuals were found guilty of manslaughter by negligence and bodily harm through negligence:

• Sotiris Terzoudis (Fire Brigade Chief),
• Vasilis Matthaiopoulos (Deputy Chief),
• Ioannis Fostieris (Commander of ESKE),
• Nikolaos Panagiotopoulos (Commander of Athens Fire Services),
• Charalampos Chionis (Commander of East Attica Fire Services),
• Filippos Panteleakos (Director of Civil Protection Operations Center),
• Christos Golfinos (Director of “199” Emergency Line),
• Damianos Papadopoulos (Commander of the Nea Makri Fire Station),
• Ioannis Kapakis (then Secretary General for Civil Protection),
• and Konstantinos Angelopoulos, from whose yard the deadly fire is believed to have started.

Acquitted:

• Rena Dourou (then Governor of Attica),
• Ilias Psinakis (then Mayor of Marathon),
• Antonis Palapatzis, Vaios Thanassias, and Dimitris Stergiou-Kapsalis (local government officials),
• Christos Lambris (Fire & Rescue Director),
• Christos Drosopoulos (Captain of vessel FLOGA),
• Georgios Portozoudis (Commander of YEMS),
• Stefanos Kolokouris (then head of the EMAK special rescue unit),
• Charalampos Syrogiannis (former deputy commander of the Hellenic Police air division),
• Evangelos Bournous (then Mayor of Rafina).

Mitigating Circumstances

Earlier today, Prosecutor Stamatina Perimeni proposed that the mitigating factor of a law-abiding life be recognized for 9 of the 10 individuals found guilty yesterday. She recommended rejecting other mitigating claims related to acting without base motives, subsequent good behavior, and unreasonable trial duration.

According to the prosecutor, all defendants except Konstantinos Angelopoulos were entitled to the leniency of a law-abiding life, as he did not have a clean criminal record. She noted:
“All requested the mitigating factor of lawful behavior; two claimed they acted without base motives, while others asked the court to consider their conduct after the incident or the delay of the trial.”
She added that this form of leniency requires proof of positive conduct, not merely the absence of criminal acts, in line with case law from Greece’s Supreme Court.

“The defendants have shown a long-standing lawful conduct, except for the latter (K. Angelopoulos), who has previous convictions,” she said. “All had careers and good reputations until July 2018.”

The process is ongoing.