A three-member misdemeanor appeals court in Athens announced on Tuesday the conviction of three of the eight defendants charged in connection with the 2017 flash floods in Mandra in western Attica, that claimed the lives of 25 people.
The judges acquitted all eight defendants of negligent homicide by omission and bodily harm charges. However, following the prosecutor’s recommendation, the court found former Mandra mayor Ioanna Kriekouki, the former head of the Elefsina urban planning office, and a regional employee guilty of causing a flood, a misdemeanor offense.
The sentences imposed reportedly ranged from 14 to 18 months in prison with a three-year suspension, as a result of which no one goes to prison as this is not provided for in the law on the basis of which the trial and the conviction took place.
In an uncommon step, the court provided an in-depth explanation before announcing its decision. The judges cited the former Mandra mayor and the head of Elefsina’s urban planning office as responsible for illegal constructions in the Soures streambed.
“Urban planning inspections should have been initiated independently. After the floods, the same two employees conducted inspections over a four-day period,” said presiding judge Argyro Nikolakoudi. She further explained that the former Mandra mayor “was the administrative and political head and was obligated to carry out her duties with the residents’ welfare and risk prevention in mind,” noting that “she was aware of the flood risk posed by municipal actions” daily kathimerini reported.
On the acquittal of defendants from negligent homicide and bodily harm charges by omission, the judge remarked, “No deaths or injuries were directly linked to the illegal constructions in the Soures stream.”
The judge added that, had the anti-flood project based on the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA) study been completed before the 2017 floods, the water flow would have been reduced by 48 percent, and the streams would have overflowed two hours later. “This would have prevented the resulting deaths and injuries,” she said.
The court was also deliberating on whether to grant mitigating factors requested by the three convicted individuals.
According to experts’ findings in 2017, extreme weather caused the flash floods in Mandra, but “human irresponsibility and bureaucracy” are the causes for the tragedy that took the lives of 25 people in Mandra,
Relatives of the victims told media that they will seek justice in Greece’s top court the Supreme Court, Arios Pagos.
