Mr. Kortzidis is called to answer on the disciplinary offense of violation of duty due to fraud or gross negligence, because he gave permission to lease the area where the amusement park was placed without being submitted a valid license of installation and operation and the necessary security measures documentation.

He is also called to testify on the fact that he already knew the installation and he had allowed the operation of the place without requiring the necessary licenses during 2011-2012.

The four defendants are set free

The four defendants accused for the tragic accident that took place in the amusement park in Ellinikos and resulted in the death of a 13-year-old boy were set free with restrictive orders.

Specifically, restrictive orders were imposed to the Greek representative of the Bulgarian company that owns the amusement park. He is not allowed to leave the country and has to report to his local police department twice a month. Also, a 20,000 euros bail was imposed to the defendant.

The same amount was imposed to the Italian operator of the equipment. As for the other two defendants, they are not allowed to leave the country and they have to report to the police department of their area.

During the inquiry, the defendants also lashed out against the media accusing them of  “human sacrifices”.

They also said that “the death of the child and the injury of his sister were caused by incidents that no man could predict and prevent. No one could predict that such an innocent child game would be transformed into a murderous weapon killing a boy and injuring a little girl.”

Moreover, the defendants said that if they had even “a small indication of the bad weather they would have ended the operation of the inflatable ball”. But, according to their testimony, the tornado came literally “out of nowhere” surprising all of us, which as they say is confirmed by all witnesses who have testified to the police.

Condolence

The Italian defendant expressed his sincere condolences to the family of the little boy.

“I am shocked by this tragic death of the little boy and the injury of his younger sister. I am a father, too and I have two children and I fully share the parents’ pain and sorrow,” he said. However, his co-defendant who also worked in the amusement park blamed the tornado “that lifted up the inflatable ball in which the children were”.

In his testimony, the Greek representative of the company said: “Our company had asked the municipality to assign this area to us and thought that mayoral committee had already conducted the necessary inspections and gave the green light since no one bothered us about it. For this reason we didn’t provide the required documents for temporary facilities, which we had already had. Since we had received two new entertainment games, we were expecting competent authority to perform the periodical re-testing of all equipment. No one can face the phenomenon of nature. This ball is completely safe and I have specific documentation to prove it. There was no fencing because the installation of the amusement park was temporary and the tenant is not allowed to make any adjustments to the place”.