Charges of felony and possible conscious criminal negligence in Mati

A lawyer for the family of victims in the deadly Mati fire has attributed blame to the Attica Prefecture, the Fire Service, and municipalities.

The lawyer says that the case involves possible conscious criminal negligence, and repeated manslaughter due to negligence.

“For felonies, the law provides for a 5-10 year prison sentence, and the penalty for misdemeanours is a jail sentence of up to five years,” said lawyer Antonis Foussas, who has filed the first lawsuit of relatives of the victims of the Mati disaster.

Foussas said that, “There were specific omissions similar to those witnessed in the huge 2007 wildfire in Ilia prefecture.

Foussas listed the links between the two cases.

• The prefecture is responsible for cleaning up dried material from the streets, drafting a plan in March on how to handle such cases, informing people that there is a level 4 (the highest) danger, and informing people so as not to be burned.
• The Fire Service is responsible for taking measures for the fire to be extinguished in a timely manner.
• Traffic Police is responsible for directing automobiles in a safe direction and not towards Mati.

New lawsuit filed by a victim’s relative

A relative of four victims who died in the Mati fire has filed a lawsuit against all persons responsible

Their attorney filed with lower court prosecutor Elias Zagoraios an application to join proceedings as a civil party against whomever the prosecutor has deemed culpable.

The plaintiff is Aris Herouvim, the brother of radiology technician Vasiliki Herouvim. She was found charred, along with her mother, Efpraxia, and her twin daughters Evelina and Marilia.

Aris Herouvim’s lawyer today filed a memorandum with Lower Court Prosecutor Elias Zagoraios.

In the petition, the lawyer requested access to a series of documents related to the case, so as to assist the prosecutors in proceeding with an “unhindered and in-depth investigation, so as to deliver justice, and to rule out tampering with the documents in the criminal probe, however high up they may be”.