Appellate-level trial for Mati fire set on July 8, for all the accused bar one

A Three-Member Appeals Court is to re-examine all rulings issued by the first-instance court that conducted the first trial for the Mati fire, including all sentences and acquittals barring one, with the appellate trial starting on July 8.

Following an appeal lodged by the public prosecutors’ office, all persons accused in connection with the case apart from the citizen who was responsible for actually starting the fire will find themselves on trial once more, including the local authority officials and fire brigade officers that had been unanimously acquitted by the lower court. For the five fire brigade officers found guilty in the first-instance trial, the appellate court has been asked to re-examine the sentences imposed and the mitigating circumstances admitted, which allowed all five to convert their sentences to a cash fine and walk free.

The date for the appellate-level trial was very quickly set as there is a risk that the offences linked to the devastating 2018 wildfire, which swept through the seaside town of Mati, will become statute-barred, given that the Supreme Court must issue an irrevocable ruling in this case by 2026.

The charges against them concern 102 homicides through negligence and 32 instances of bodily harm through negligence.The public prosecution’s appeal does not include the Daou Penteli resident found guilty of actually starting the fire, who was sentenced to three years imprisonment and has lodged an appeal to have his sentence reduced.

The appellate court will effectively try the case from scratch, deciding whether the lower-level court’s decision to acquit 15 of the accused was justified and whether its sentencing was sound.

Among those on trial were several senior fire brigade and police officers, the then general secretary for civil protection Ioannis Kapakis, the former Attica Region governor Rena Dourou and the mayors at that time of Marathonas and Penteli.