“I watched him burn alive. And then “gone”… I didn’t want to live… Every night when I close my eyes, I’m back in the Eye. I miss Brian.”

The woman who, a few days after her wedding in Ireland, saw her husband disappear in the flames, testified about what she experienced on the fateful day of her honeymoon in Greece. The day the fire in Mati surrounded the villa where they lived.

Zoe Maria Holohan described in court what happened until the Eye became a nightmare from which she is still unable to recover. She lost her partner and suffered serious injuries from the fire.

As the witness, who has written a book about the most tragic moment of her life, told the judges: “The reason I wanted to talk to you today is that 6 years later, not only do I have the scars, my legs have changed and I still do laser treatment. They are trying to find surgical solutions but the surgeon has told me that I have to live with my body as it is. I lost my lover and since then, although my friends tell me to move on, I have no love, no relationships, I am ashamed of my body and I don’t want anyone to see it. It shouldn’t be…others are the ones who should feel bad. And every night when I close my eyes, I’m back in the Eye. I miss Brian. And all I see in my dreams is the Eye: losing Brian. You may think 6 years is a long time but for me the Eye is a life sentence.”

The witness emphasized that there was no warning about the fire, no alarm, nothing and that when the garden of their accommodation caught fire, no one was found to help them. “Like we were abandoned… I don’t understand why we don’t have answers. 104 people are missing and others are living like the living dead. And no one has been punished,” he said.

Mrs. Holohan recounted that she and her husband went out into the street, where they met five children alone and took them with them.

“Out of nowhere a car with 3 adults appeared. We opened the door and put them inside. But we realized it didn’t have room for us, so we got into the trunk. The flames were coming over the car. My hair caught fire and melted into my face. What was left of my dress had caught fire. And then the car crashed… a tree fell on us and especially on Brian. The hand I was holding the car with had melted and I was holding Brian with the other. As soon as I let him go he fell into the fire and started screaming. His last conversation was “why”. I kept calling his name as I watched him burn alive. And then he left… Where I was sitting suddenly someone in a fireman’s uniform appeared and took me through a wall of fire.”

Giorgos Kairis testified about the loss of his partner, who angrily referred to the complete absence of any competent agency not only before the destruction but also after, when “the calvary” began. As he said: “The Municipality was non-existent. They didn’t have a list of the dead or anything. 112 didn’t work. In Kinetta three villages were evacuated, in us nothing. The fire burned uncontrollably for 77 minutes. And Mr. Toskas found no malpractice… Mr. Terzoudis said he would do the same… We’ve reached a misdemeanor trial, like trying a car damage. I’m embarrassed…unfortunately, I feel like we’re all being made fun of. We’ve reached a trial where we’re trying to buy time so it doesn’t become statute-barred.”

Kalitsa Anagnostou, a multiple burn victim like her minor son, testified about what she and the child experienced after the fire. “We have been given a life sentence just for sleeping that afternoon… My son will be terminally ill from the burns… We were there alone in Dante’s inferno, with people screaming one moment and silence the next. Why did some people not do the basic thing: to tell us to leave… Not even an evacuation, just to leave Marathon” said the witness who also referred to what was heard at the time:

“It was heard about the anarchic construction of the Eye and that we did not know where to go. We ourselves are to blame for the dead because we were there. Their own responsibilities do not exist. We spent 19 months listening to falsifications of the truth and being told that everything was fine.”