Four former senior officials have been sentenced to prison without suspension over the 2018 wildfire in Mati, Greece, which killed 104 people and left dozens more injured.

Four to serve time

The court ordered that four of the convicted be imprisoned immediately. These include:

  • Sotiris Terzoudis, then-chief of the Fire Service
  • Vasilis Matthaiopoulos, deputy chief at the time
  • Ioannis Fostieris, then-head of the Fire Service’s operations centre (ESKE)
  • Ioannis Kapakis, former General Secretary for Civil Protection

Together, they received a combined sentence of 340 years, although Greek law stipulates that only five years will be served in practice. The decision to impose real jail time without the possibility of suspension or conversion into fines was based on the court’s assessment that they pose a risk of reoffending.

“For these four defendants, the sentence is imposed without suspension or the possibility of conversion, as they are considered at risk of committing new offences,” the presiding judge said, promising further justification in the court’s written decision.

The penalties include five years for each of the 102 deaths, and two years for each of the 32 injuries listed in the indictment.

Other Sentences

The remaining five convicted individuals – all of whom held operational or command roles within the fire services– received similarly hefty sentences, totalling 238 years, with five years also to be served.

For Konstantinos Angelopoulos, the resident of Penteli from whose yard the fire has started, the court upheld his three-year prison sentence originally imposed at first instance.

No leniency granted

Throughout the trial, the prosecution had urged the court to consider the previously clean criminal records of nine of the ten defendants. The court rejected this proposal by a 2–1 vote, with the presiding judge arguing that in some cases, such leniency was warranted. Nonetheless, the majority prevailed, and the court unanimously dismissed all other proposed mitigating factors, including good post-incident conduct, lack of selfish motives, and the excessive duration of the trial.

Eleven acquitted

Of the 21 people initially charged, 11 were acquitted, including high-profile figures such as Rena Dourou, then Regional Governor of Attica, and Ilias Psinakis, then Mayor of Marathon. The court found that there was insufficient evidence of intent to warrant felony charges against them.

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