On Wednesday, June 4, in a landmark ruling, the Athens Three-Member Court of Appeals imposed severe sentences on the ten defendants found guilty for their roles in the devastating 2018 wildfire in Mati, Attica, which claimed 102 lives.
The court announced multi-year prison terms—some reaching as high as 340 years. However, due to legal constraints in effect at the time of the tragedy, the maximum time to be actually served is capped at five years.
Following a decision not to recognize any mitigating circumstances, the court sentenced four defendants to five years in prison for each of the 102 counts of manslaughter. Five additional defendants received sentences of four years for each count of negligent manslaughter, and two years for each case of bodily harm sustained by burn victims.
The court also upheld a previous three-year sentence for the elderly man from whose yard the fire is believed to have originated.
The heaviest sentences were handed down to Sotiris Terzoudis, Vasilis Matthaiopoulos, Ioannis Fostiéris, and Ioannis Kapakis—former high-ranking fire service officials—who each received cumulative sentences of 340 years, with five years to be served.
Five other defendants received total sentences of 240 years each, with the same five-year service limit.
The court proceedings took a decisive turn following the prosecutor’s recommendations, which paved the way for imprisonment of the four senior fire officials.
The prosecutor proposed that Terzoudis, Matthaiopoulos, Fostiéris, and Kapakis should serve their sentences, effectively leading them to prison.
For the remaining five defendants, the prosecutor recommended converting their prison terms into financial penalties. As for the elderly resident held responsible for the blaze’s origin, the prosecutor advised suspending his sentence due to his age and health conditions.
The prosecutor’s closing remarks triggered an emotional response in the courtroom, with the audience erupting into applause.
