A Greek court on Tuesday, June 6, found ten former high-ranking officials from the Fire Service, Civil Protection, and other firefighting units guilty for their roles in the deadly 2018 wildfire in Mati, a coastal region northeast of Athens, which claimed the lives of 104 people.
The Court of Appeals, which retried the case from the ground up, convicted 10 of the 21 defendants, ruling that their criminal actions—and more significantly, their omissions—contributed to the scale of the tragedy. Among those convicted is Konstantinos Angelopoulos, the resident found to have started the fire.
The charges are misdemeanors, carrying a maximum sentence of five years. The court is now deliberating on whether any mitigating circumstances apply, how the sentences will be calculated, and whether any of the convicted individuals will serve actual prison time.
The judges concluded that there was no evidence of intent (possible malice) that would justify felony charges—a legal position affirmed in multiple prior rulings.
The remaining 11 defendants were acquitted. Among those cleared of all charges were then-Attica Governor Rena Dourou, former Marathon Mayor Ilias Psinakis, Fire Service Rescue Director Christos Lambris, and former Police Aviation Deputy Commander Charalampos Syrogiannis.
