“Mr. Kasselakis lies knowingly and repeatedly,” the government spokesman said in a statement Pavlos Marinakis, referring to the official opposition leader’s statements regarding the provisions of the criminal code.

Mr. Marinakis called on Mr. Kasselakis “to reduce the time he spends making videos that spread lies and start reading texts and provisions, starting with the legal monstrosity that his party voted for in 2019, just before he left the power”.

According to the government spokesman, the 2019 penal code, “among other things, reduced the penalties for crimes such as the rape of minors, enabled the court to impose a sentence of up to 15 years in prison for a homicide, in addition to life imprisonment, and led to mass releases of war criminals. After all, the former Minister of Justice of SYRIZA, Stavros Kontonis, has said everything about the specific criminal code.” And he added:

“So instead of bowing their heads and apologizing for what they voted for before leaving power, they come to instrumentalize another tragic case.”

The government representative referred to the judicial developments regarding the fire in “Mati”, but also to the changes foreseen in the criminal code passed by the ND government, compared to that of 2019, and noted:

“Addressing the citizens and not the professional peddlers of lies, having as our absolute duty not to leave the slightest scope for attempts to mislead, we repeat the following: Law 5090/2024 could not be taken into account by the judges in the decision on ” Mati” because its implementation began yesterday, May 1, 2024. Literally in Chapter H, article 138, par. 1 of Law 5090/2024 it is stated that: “With the reservation of par. 2 and 3, the validity of this on 1.5.2024”.

With the SYRIZA criminal code, a maximum total sentence of 5 years could be imposed for serial manslaughter. With Law 4855/2021 the maximum limit of total punishment was increased to 8 years and with Law 5090/2024 it became 10 years.

Arson of a forest through negligence that causes death or ecological destruction is characterized by the SYRIZA criminal code as a minor misdemeanor, with a minimum penalty of only 10 days with a suspended sentence.

According to the penal code legislated by the Government of the New Republic, the aforementioned offense is a serious felony, with a minimum penalty of 10 years in prison and a maximum of 20 years in prison, a fine of up to 200,000 euros and confiscation of the offender’s property.

Arson of a forest with intent to cause death was punishable by SYRIZA’s criminal code with a prison sentence of up to 15 years, which in practice was much less. With the penal code legislated by the ND government, the only penalty is life imprisonment with the possibility of parole after a substantial judgment by the Judicial Council at 18 years.

And because they remembered the suspension and commutation of the sentences, let’s emphasize that with the SYRIZA criminal code, the sentences for misdemeanors had a “symbolic character”, as they were usually suspended.

On the contrary, with the criminal code legislated by the Government of the ND, the misdemeanor sentences are not “virtual” but real because their suspension, as a rule, has ceased to apply”.