The court’s decision on Mati is disproportionate to the magnitude of the loss and the magnitude of the tragedy, the Deputy Minister of Justice told SKAI 100.3 Ioannis Bougas.

“At three points in time the victims, but also the victims’ relatives felt disappointment. The first was when the charge was a misdemeanor. The second time point was the long duration of the trial. We have already reached six years, to have a decision in the first instance… And the third is the decision as such, not only in terms of the amount of the penalties, but also in terms of the range of the accused who are considered criminally responsible for the tragedy in Mati ” noted the deputy minister.

The Deputy Minister of Justice pointed out that the Criminal Code and the Code of Criminal Procedure provide for the possibility of appeal by the Appellate Prosecutor, and he estimated that it is almost certain that the DA will appeal.

Responding to a question about the time of the decision and the fear of statute of limitations, he noted that neither the natural leadership of the Justice, nor the ministry, will allow such a case to prescribe before justice is served.

“Maybe the court did its job well, I don’t know, but what is certain is that the sequence of responsibilities as they are distributed and analyzed obviously leaves us with the fact that what should have been done was not done…” he commented to SKAI and show Today the Minister of the Interior Makis Voridis.

Asked about today’s decision on the tragedy in Mati six years later, the Deputy Minister of Digital Governance Konstantinos Kyranakis commented to SKAI that “the delay is very long, and that is why it is important the Ministry of Justice bill for the new judicial map that will reduce the time it takes to issue decisions” while he added that “those who remember those moments, consider that there are also political responsibilities”.

The decision

The guilt of six of the total of 21 defendants for the tragedy in Mati was decided earlier by the Three-member Misdemeanor Court of Athens, six years after the deadly fire with 104 dead.

The Court imposed a prison sentence of five years and to the five former high-ranking officials of the state apparatus who were convicted for the tragedy in Mati, and three years to Konstantinos Angelopoulos who set the fire.

The penalties for the tragedy in Mati

Specifically, the Court imposed penalties on:

  • Sotiris Terzoudis Chief of Operations of the Fire Department total prison sentence 111 years, i.e. 5 years.
  • Vasilis Matthaiopoulos Deputy Chief of Operations of the Fire Department a total prison sentence of 15 years, i.e. 5 years.
  • Ioannis Fostieri, Commander of the Joint Operations Coordination Center total prison sentence 111 years, i.e. five years.
  • Nikolaos Panagiotopoulos, Commander of the Athens Fire Service Administration total prison sentence 111 years, i.e. 5 years
  • Charalambo Snow Commander of the Eastern Attica Fire Services, a total prison sentence of 111 years, i.e. 5 years.
  • Konstantinos Angelopoulos, resident who allegedly started the fire sentenced to 3 years in prison.

It was finally imposed on the condemned and a fine of 38,000 euros each.

Read more about the decision HERE