What happened on the afternoon of July 23, 2028 in Eastern Attica with a fire that started in Daou Penteli and ended in devastation sweeping through Mati?
How did 93 people burn, how did nine drown in the sea, where they fled to save themselves from the "fiery hell"?
Were all appropriate actions taken at the level of prevention, operational action to deal with the fire, and management of the situation as it developed, or was the tragic development inevitable and each responsible person did "what was humanly possible," as was heard in the courtroom during the statements?
Did the first instance court err in not holding 15 of the 21 defendants responsible for the tragedy in Mati?
The time for the prosecution's opening statement on the tragedy in Mati
The Prosecutor of the Three-Member Court of Appeal for Misdemeanors will present her answers, her assessment of all the elements of the tragedy, as they exist in the case file and on those contributed during the months-long hearing process, today in her speech.
A speech that, although not binding on the court, is awaited with great interest by both the 21 defendants and the victims of the deadliest fire the country has ever experienced, as well as by society.
The people who from one moment to the next experienced unimaginable scenes of horror, suffering and unspeakable destruction have asked all citizens to stand by their side today in this special moment of the final trial for the tragedy in Mati.
Seven years after the day that forever marked their lives, they called on society to stand with them on the home stretch in their fight for justice for the 104 dead and dozens of their burned victims.
Today, eight months after the start of the second instance trial, the Prosecutor of the Court of Appeal will formulate her judgment, her legal evaluation of the "how and why" of the case. She will respond to the issues raised by the prosecutor's appeal against the verdict of the judges of the first instance court, both for the fifteen acquittals and for the amount of the sentences imposed on five of the convicted, former Fire Department officers.
The court has given today's and tomorrow's hearings to the prosecutor, so that she has time to fully develop the reasoning that will lead her to the "decision" of her proposal regarding the guilt or not and who, among the accused, were then executives of the Fire Department, Civil Protection, Municipalities and the then Regional Governor.
The Prosecutor's legal responses to the acts and omissions alleged in the indictment, to the role of each of the defendants and how it influenced what happened in Mati, her acceptance or not of the defendants' position that under the specific specific circumstances and the means at their disposal, they acted both "correctly" and legally, will be the data that will lead the prosecutor's proposal to "guilty" or "innocent."
The charges, the defendants and the prosecutor's appeal
The Three-Member Court of Appeal for Misdemeanors is reviewing the case from the beginning as it is called upon, following the Prosecutor's appeal of the first-instance decision, to re-evaluate both the unanimous acquittals for fifteen defendants, as well as the length of the sentences for five convicted individuals.
The Daou resident is being tried following his own appeal, seeking a reduction in his sentence, as no prosecutorial appeal was filed against the first-instance decision, in the part that concerns him.
The charges against the twenty then heads of the competent services and bodies concern 102 cases of manslaughter, including the nine people who drowned at sea in their attempt to escape the inferno. They also concern 32 cases of bodily harm due to negligence in relation to the injured survivors of the disaster who are present at the trial.
The trial court, in its decision, which was met with fierce reactions inside and outside the courtroom, found six of the 21 defendants guilty and unanimously found the remaining fifteen innocent.
The then heads and executives of the Fire Department, Sotiris Terzoudis, Vasilis Matthaiopoulos, Ioannis Fostieris, Nikos Panagiotopoulos and Charalambos Chionis, were found guilty, and the final sentence was set at five years, which was converted into a fine of 10 euros per day. The resident of Daou, from whose yard the fire started, was also found guilty, and was sentenced to a sentence of 3 years.
The first-instance court acquitted the Fire Department executives Christos Golfinos, Philippos Panteleakos, Damianos Papadopoulos, Christos Lambris, Christos Drosopoulos, Georgios Portozoudis and Stefanos Kolokouris.
He also acquitted the then ELAS Aerial Media Officer Charalambos Syrogiannis, the then Secretary General of Civil Protection Ioannis Kapakis, the then Attica Regional Governor Rena Dourou and the then mayors of Marathon Ilias Psinakis, Penteli Dimitrios-Stergios Kapsalis and Rafina-Pikermi Evangelos Bournous as well as the deputy mayors Vaios Thanasias (Marathon) and Antonis Palpatzis (Rafina-Pikermi).
Morning gathering at the Court of Appeals for the trial of the deadly fire in Mati
The "Association of Relatives of the Dead and Burned on 23/07/2018" calls for a gathering at 9 am at the Court of Appeals for the deadly fire in Mati.
The mobilization is being organized on the occasion of the second-instance trial for the deadly fire in July 2018, which led to the death of 104 people in Mati.
The Labor Center of Lavrio and Eastern Attica calls on unions and workers to gather at the Court of Appeal (Loukareos Street, room D4, ground floor) and is organizing a bus for the Court of Appeal that will depart today at 07:30 from Nea Makri Square.
The Labor Center, from the very beginning of the deadly fire, stood by the victims and their families, leading the organization of solidarity from labor unions in the country and abroad. It demands that all those politically and criminally responsible for the fire be punished, that those affected be compensated 100%, and that measures be taken to protect the lives and property of residents.
The announcement of the Labor Center of Lavrio and Eastern Attica
"From the very beginning, we have highlighted the criminal policy that led to the deadly fire, with the lack of fire protection and prevention measures, with the understaffing of the fire department and the shortages in firefighting equipment, with the lack of an effective escape plan, which cost the lives of 104 residents, with dozens of injuries, and houses reduced to ashes. It turns out that in Mati, as well as five years later in the tragic accident in Tempi, the lives of the people are literally hanging by a thread, because the safety and protection of our lives are at the mercy of non-existent prevention measures that are constantly weighed against the cost-benefit balance, by a hostile state that puts the profits of business groups above the lives of working people every day," he says in his statement.
Source: iefimerida.gr
