Mati: No mitigating circumstances for the 10 defendants – Sentences of up to 240 years but only 5 to be served

The Court of Appeal has announced a significant decision regarding the suspension of sentences for the 10 individuals convicted in connection with the devastating wildfire in Mati.

During the court proceedings, the sentences for these ten defendants were revealed, totaling up to 240 years in prison. However, only 5 years of that time will be served.

Konstantinos Angelopoulos, from whose yard the fire originated, received a sentence of 3 years.

Sotiris Terzoudis, Vasilis Matthaiopoulos, Ioannis Fostiéris, and Ioannis Kapakis initially faced a combined sentence of 240 years (with 5 years to be served).

For Christos Golfínos, Filippos Panteleákos, Nikos Panagiotopoulos, Damianos Papadopoulos, and Charalambos Chiónis, the pre-merging sentence totaled 138 years.

It is noteworthy that yesterday, those convicted of manslaughter by negligence and aggravated bodily harm included:

• Sotiris Terzoudis, former Fire Department Chief,
• Vasilis Matthaiopoulos, Deputy Chief,
• Ioannis Fostiéris, Commander of ESKE (Unified Coordination Center),
• Nikos Panagiotopoulos, Commander of Athens Fire Services,
• Charalambos Chiónis, Commander of East Attica Fire Services,
• Filippos Panteleákos, Director of the Civil Protection Operations Center,
• Christos Golfínos, Director of the emergency hotline 199,
• Damianos Papadopoulos, Commander of Nea Makri Fire Station,
• Ioannis Kapakis, then General Secretary,
• Konstantinos Angelopoulos, from whose yard the fire began.

Conversely, the following individuals were found not guilty:

• Rena Dourou, former Regional Governor of Attica,
• Ilias Psinakis, former Mayor of Marathon,
• Antonis Palapatzis, Vaios Thanassias, and Dimitris Stergiou-Kapsalis (local government officials),
• Christos Lambris, Director of Firefighting and Rescue,
• Christos Drosopoulos, captain of the “FLOGA” vessel,
• Georgios Portozoudis, Commander of YEMS (Mobile Emergency Medical Units),
• Stefanos Kolokouris, former Commander of EMAK (Special Disaster Response Unit),
• Charalambos Syrogiannis, former Deputy Commander of ELAS Airborne Division,
• Evangelos Bournous, former Mayor of Rafina.