The Athens prosecutor’s office on Tuesday filed an indictment against 20 people, including current office-holders, related to a deadly wildfire last August at a coastal site due east of Athens, a catastrophe that cost the lives of 100 people.
The indictment includes misdemeanor charges against current Attica regional governor Rena Dourou, a top cadre of ruling SYRIZA party and an incumbent in the coming election, as well as the mayors of Marathon-Nea Makri, Ilias Psinakis, and the harbor town of Rafina, Evangelos Bournous.
The pine-covered coastal settlement of Mati, sandwiched between a regional two-way roadway and cliffs overlooking the southern Evoikos Gulf, was almost completed destroyed during the wildfire, which scorched the area in less than an hour after flames jumped across the road median. The haphazard construction of holiday homes – standing within legally purchased lots but without building permits and surrounded by pine trees – proved to be a “tinder box” for the blaze, which swept through the site propelled by gale force winds.
The Mati settlement lies within the Marathon-Nea Makri municipality, just north of the boundary with Rafina, to the south.
Other charges were filed against the former general secretary of the civil protection directorate, as well as the cashiered police and fire brigade chiefs.
Charges include multiple counts of involuntary manslaughter and negligent manslaughter.
A 64-year-old man was also charged with setting the initial fire on his property, ostensibly to burn dry brush, which subsequently went out of control.
The testimonies of some 350 people were taken during an urgent preliminary investigation. Prosecutors said they ascertained liability for the period before the wildfire erupted – i.e. omissions in emergency preparedness, fire-fighting measures – as well as during its rampage.
Another six judicial probes are underway over the same incident, including an investigation over building code violations – a scourge in many out-of-town planning areas in Greek coastal areas.
