The position that he had not the slightest involvement in the operational management of the fire in Kineta and the one in Eastern Attica that on the afternoon of July 23, 2018 resulted in the tragedy in Mati, was testified to the Tri-member Court of Appeal by the then Minister of Citizen Protection Nikos Toskas.

The witness testified that on the day in question, he was at the Unified Firefighting Operations Coordination Center as a political supervisor, where, as he stated, he had told the leadership of the Corps to set priorities, as there were a total of 14 fires.

The witness, when asked by the president if it was his order to divert a helicopter that was heading towards the fire in Penteli, so that it could go to the fire at the Corinth refineries, said that not only did he not give such an order, but he did not even know about it.

“From the first moment that the fire occurred, before Mati, I had told the leadership of the fire department to set priorities. The political leadership does not determine the details but how the war will be fought in general terms. In ESKE I was in all critical fires and events to have an overview of the situation. So I have learned to be on the front line, this does not mean that I was interfering with their duties. I said that the aerials should only go to Kineta and Mati”.

The phrase of the former minister about “priorities” that he said he set to the leadership of the Fire Department, as well as that he said to send aerials to Kineta and Mati, caused a barrage of questions from the District Attorney.

Prosecutor: Wasn’t that (about priorities and aerials) an implicit order? What does priority mean?

Witness: No, I didn’t say that. The worst thing is to scatter the media…

Prosecutor: I understood that the order you gave them is that we sacrifice something and gain something. What did you tell them to let Mati burn and Kineta be saved or vice versa? This is a business order.

Witness: It was war that day. We had 14 fires! I told them to prioritize and people prioritized.

Prosecutor : If you order them to prioritize, it’s an operational order.

Witness : Look at the great confusion there can be here. I didn’t cause confusion, I just tried to help the situation.

Prosecutor: Have you thought about the great confusion you caused to the staff?

Chairman : The witness said that he had no operational authority.

Witness : I am not accused.

Prosecutor: You are not a defendant, you are a witness, and if you have given orders, this may lighten the responsibilities of some. It does not absolve them but lightens their position

The former minister, answering a question from a member of the court, said that “We had a tragedy. Innocent people should not be blamed. If we look for details we will surely find mistakes. It was inevitable as a matter of fact.”

In a question from the side of the victims regarding a report by the accused then head of ESKE, Ioannis Fostieris, that Mr. Toskas was giving orders and anyone who disobeyed them risked being outside the House, the former minister repeated that: “None of their actions were influenced by instruction, direction, or order of mine. It follows that I gave no order.”

The witness said that there was never a question of informing the citizens in Mati because the person in charge of the field never gave such information, since, as he said, “even if they suggested something like this, it could not be done. There was no time”. He even added that during that period “we put the water in the gutter” for 112, which however was not working at the time.