The highly anticipated trial concerning the devastating wildfire in Mati in July 2018 has concluded with impactful results. Seven years after the tragedy that claimed 104 lives and injured many others, the appellate court has determined that four of the ten defendants will serve prison time.
The individuals sentenced to prison are:
- Sotiris Terzoudis, former Chief of the Fire Service
- Vasilis Matthaiopoulos, former Deputy Chief
- Ioannis Fostieris, former Commander of the Unified Operations Coordination Center
- Ioannis Kapakis, former General Secretary for Civil Protection
All four received multi-year prison sentences, with a mandatory minimum of five years to serve, with no option for suspension or conversion. The court ruled they were deemed likely to reoffend.
Previously, the court rejected any mitigating circumstances for the defendants, paving the way for the denial of sentence suspension.
Immediately following the verdict, police in the courtroom executed the ruling. They approached Matthaiopoulos, Kapakis, and Terzoudis to handcuff them (Fostieris was not present, represented by lawyers). In response, relatives of the victims cheered and chanted the name “Liotsios, Liotsios.”
Dimitris Liotsios, who was present in court, is the Fire Service officer appointed by the judiciary to investigate the causes of the tragedy on July 23, 2018. He had previously alleged that Matthaiopoulos pressured him to minimize accountability and attribute the disaster to weather conditions. Following these claims, Matthaiopoulos was sentenced a year ago to two and a half years in prison with a three-year suspension for attempted unlawful coercion and breach of duty.
As the defendants were taken away, victims’ families expressed their gratitude for Liotsios’ efforts to reveal significant shortcomings, while also condemning the threats he faced.
Other individuals found guilty by the Court of Appeals include:
- Nikolaos Panagiotopoulos, Fire Service Commander of Athens
- Charalampos Chionis, Fire Commander of East Attica
- Filippos Panteleakos, Director of the Civil Protection Operations Center
- Christos Golfinos, Director of the emergency line “199”
- Damianos Papadopoulos, Fire Station Commander in Nea Makri
Additionally, Konstantinos Angelopoulos, from whose property the fire originated, was convicted as well.
However, for these individuals, the court converted their sentences (also multi-year with a five-year base) to 10 euros per day, effectively suspending their prison time. They were found guilty of manslaughter by negligence, bodily harm by negligence, and in Angelopoulos’s case, arson by negligence.
Statements and Reactions
“There is real hope for the future—hope that things can improve,” stated Varvara Voukaki, who lost her husband and two children in the fire. “I felt my children and all those lost applauding with us,” she added. Other families of victims also expressed satisfaction with this aspect of the court’s ruling.
Those Acquitted by the Court include:
- Rena Dourou, former Governor of Attica
- Ilias Psinakis, former Mayor of Marathon
- Antonis Palapatzis, Vaios Thanasias, and Dimitris Stergiou-Kapsalis (local officials)
- Christos Lambris, Director of Fire & Rescue
- Christos Drosopoulos, Captain of the FLOGA vessel
- Georgios Portozoudis, Commander of the Hellenic Rescue Team
- Stefanos Kolokouris, former Commander of the EMAK (Special Disaster Unit)
- Charalampos Syrogiannis, former Deputy Commander of Police Air Operations
- Evangelos Bournous, former Mayor of Rafina
What’s Next
Defense attorneys are now awaiting the full written decision to analyze the court’s rationale—particularly regarding the denial of mitigating factors and the refusal of sentence suspension for the four imprisoned defendants.
The next and possibly final stage of this legal process may be the Supreme Court (Areios Pagos). However, time is of the essence: by summer 2026, the offenses will reach the statute of limitations. If the case proceeds to the Supreme Court, it must be fully adjudicated within about a year.
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