By Ioanna Mandrou

The guilt of four defendants, everyone then high-ranking officials of the state apparatus, asked the trial prosecutor in much-lauded trial for Mati Panagiotis Maniatis.

The public prosecutor, who will continue his arraignment on February 20, proposing for all the defendants, 21 in total, during today’s arraignment that lasted six hours, he proposed that they be declared guilty the then commander of ESKE Ioannis Fostieris, the then chief of the Fire Department Sotiris Terzoudis and the then deputy chief Vassilis Matthaiopoulos for a series of omissions that contributed to the non-treatment of the deadly fire.

also suggested that Nikolaos Papagiotopoulos be declared guilty then head of the Fire Services of Attica because he did not give an order for an organized preventive evacuation of the residents.

The purchase of Mr. Maniatis was thorough and detailed for each act of omission, for each defendant and for each charge attributed to him.

For seven of the 21 defendants for whom he pleaded guilty today, there was a conviction for some and an exoneration for otherswhile for the four for whom he suggested guilt, he acquitted them for individual acts or omissions.

During the prosecution, the sad picture of an incompetent state apparatus was presented which did not have the ability, despite the efforts on the field, to deal with the fiery blaze, leading to the death of 104 people, causing enormous destruction, with dozens of burns and injuries.

particularly the prosecuting official described the alalum on the night of the tragedy noting among other things.

“We heard that vehicles arrived at the scene of the fire and they didn’t even inform that they had arrived, vehicles were going to the wrong place or vehicles and firefighters were going and operating at will. Consequently the problem was twofold. It was about the few means available anyway, but also about the non-effective utilization of the means in the places where they were most needed”.

An unprecedented tragedy

In order to demonstrate the scale of the disaster, but also the scale of responsibility and criminal omissions, Mr. Maniatis pointed out, among other things, at the beginning of his speech.

“It is not an exaggeration to say that in many fire protection issues we have to talk about the period before 23.7.2018 and after. It was the second biggest tragedy in the number of victims worldwide, there were dozens of dead, injured and burned in just 2.5 hours. On July 23, 2018, in an event of very short duration, we had more than 100 dead” said the prosecutor and added:

“Your court and the prosecutor’s office has a mission to give the answer to the question “what happened that day in Eastern Attica?” Who was to blame for leading us to this disastrous result?” This case started with more defendants and finally 21 were brought to the bench. After fifteen months of proceedings I have to say that every possible effort was made to conduct a fair trial”.

As for them responsibilities of the Fire Brigade and Civil Protection officers, the prosecutor held them responsible for certain manipulations and specific omissions.

In particular, with evidence the public prosecutor referring to the responsibilities of Fostieris, Terzoudis and Matthaiopoulos that they did not provide for aerial surveillanceconcluded that aerial surveillance was carried out and also that there was no responsibility for the repositioning of the firefighting helicopters.

“It turned out, said the prosecutor, that the compensations that could be made, were made. There was no omission of the three defendants.”

With regard to the need for additional support, the public prosecutor was especially condemning of Ioannis Fostieris in the decisions he took when he received phone calls from a large businessman, who requested reinforcement of the firefighting means for the area of ​​Kineta, where a fire was also raging there, saying that the fire had entered the refinery.

“It turned out that Fostieris received two calls from the owner of the refinery, prominent businesswoman who urgently asks him for aerial means. But the businessman was not there, he transferred the image from his employees. He allegedly told him, however, that the fire had entered the premises. But what should be his proper reaction? To confirm the information he received.”

” He should not, added Mr. Maniatis, listen to a big businessman and without confirming. It was an irregular and operationally incorrect decision. Who is responsible for this decision? The then commander of the ESKE Ioannis Fostieris, but also the then leader of the PS Sotiris Terzoudis” reported the prosecutor saying that the act was proven only for Fostieris and Terzoudis, and not for Vassilis Matthaiopoulos.

Regarding the non-utilization of the Floga 1 and 2 helicopters, the prosecutor noted that “it turned out that the non-utilization of the Flame helicopters is not due to someone’s omission, but to objective factors which made their utilization impossible”. Respectively, the prosecutor concluded that any aerials not used were not an omissionbut there were official or other reasons that made their use impossible in this case.

However, referring to the Chinooks, Mr. Maniatis said “only 2 were available at Megaron airport, but there is an error and an oversight in that for one the request was delayed and for the other it was not done at all. The responsibility lies with Terzoudis and Fostieris”. He also proposed the guilt of Vassilis Matthaiopoulos for not mobilizing the fire brigade boats with results through failure to find the death of 9 people at sea, of Sotiris Terzoudis and Ioannis Fostieris for the part concerning the use of aerial means he has suggested until this time the prosecutor, while he has proposed the exemption of some of the accused for other individual acts.

In fact, he added that “the failure to give an order to the fire boats to help means the death of 9 people at sea”. According to the prosecutor, the person in charge and responsible that day to mobilize the boats was the second defendant and as he explained: “the non-mobilization contributed to causing the deaths of the people who lost their lives at sea. As an omission, it should be attributed to Vassilis Matthaiopoulos and I will request his guilt for this part of the accusation, while I will request that Terzoudis and Fostieris be declared innocent”.

Finally, he requested that Nikos Panagiotopoulos be declared guilty because he did not give an order for an organized evacuation of the residents, noting among other things, “The fact that there was no timely information had a catalytic effect on so many deaths and burns. This image does not honor either the Fire Brigade, Civil Protection or the others involved. If an early removal decision was taken, the citizens would be informed in time by the media. (…) How is this possible? Door to door with sound signals, with passing vehicles and in any other convenient or trial way. The suggestion of an organized preventive evacuation would help the citizens for the coming danger.”