Six years after the devastating wildfire in Attica’s seaside town of Mati and nearby areas, which claimed 102 lives and left dozens injured, a three-member misdemeanors court issued its verdicts on the 21 defendants on Monday morning. The verdict triggered an outrage among the victims’ relatives who keep demanding justice.
After the announcement of the verdict, victims’ relatives who had gathered at the court broke in outrage shouting and cursing. Many broke into tears, while some threw chairs at the defendants. media reported.
“All innocent? There is no justice!” a victim’s relative shouted at the defendants.defendants.
“Damn you, you have no brains! Not even an apology!” another victim’s relative shouted.
An elderly woman who lost her daughter and her infant granddaughter in the fire urged defendants to look her in the eyes and tell her if they had lost a child. “I did not find my child to bury her.”
“Let’s start a fundraising… Shame…”, shouted another relative.
“If a public figure was burned it would be a felony. We only have graves and misdemeanor,” a young woman shouted.
“Today you are burning them again,” other relatives shouted as they moved towards the defendants shouting “shame on you.”
Only six of the 21 defendants were found guilty, while the elected politicians were acquitted. According to prosecutor’s findings, defendants were guilty of “lack of coordination, ineffective cooperation, incompetence, criminal mistakes.”
The trial lasted 1.5 years.
The wildfire started on 23. July 2018 in Daou Pentelis. Gale-force winds with gusts up to 11 Beaufort had the fire spread very quickly from the mountain down to several sea resorts on the coast of eastern Attica.
Without any aid from police, firefighters or the municipality and no coordination whatsoever, hundreds of people, young and old, Greeks and foreign nationals on vacation packed their children and pets and started to run to the sea to escape the fiery destruction coming from the mountain.
Majority of survivors were rescued from the seaside or the sea where they had to wait for help over several hours.
Many of the dead were burned or suffocated in the area, other died in hospitals.
There is something rotten in the State of Greece…
How can “manslaughter by negligence” and “bodily harm by negligence” be misdemeanors? How can these people live with themselves anyway?