The long-awaited trial over the deadly wildfire in Mati in July 2018 concluded dramatically. Seven years after the devastating blaze that left 104 dead and dozens injured, the appellate court ruled that four of the ten defendants found guilty would go to prison.

Sentenced to serve prison time are:

• Sotiris Terzoudis, then-Chief of the Fire Service
• Vasilis Matthaiopoulos, then-Deputy Chief
• Ioannis Fostieris, then-Commander of the Unified Operations Coordination Center
• Ioannis Kapakis, then-General Secretary for Civil Protection

All four received multi-year prison sentences, with five years to be served, and no suspension or conversion of the sentence was granted. The court emphasized that they were considered likely to commit further offenses.

Earlier, the court denied all mitigating circumstances for these individuals—signaling the possibility, which was ultimately realized, that no sentence suspension would be granted.

Immediately after the verdict, police officers in the courtroom executed the ruling. They approached Matthaiopoulos, Kapakis, and Terzoudis to handcuff and take them into custody (Fostieris was absent, represented by his lawyers). At that moment, relatives of the victims applauded and shouted the name “Liotsios, Liotsios.”

Dimitris Liotsios, who was present in court, is the Fire Service officer appointed by the judiciary as an expert to investigate the causes of the July 23, 2018 tragedy. He had previously alleged that Matthaiopoulos pressured him to downplay responsibilities and blame the disaster on the weather. Following these allegations, another court sentenced Matthaiopoulos a year ago to two and a half years in prison with a three-year suspension for attempted unlawful coercion and breach of duty.

Yesterday, victims’ families shouted Liotsios’ name as the defendants were led away—both in gratitude for his contribution to exposing critical failures, and in condemnation of the threats he had endured.

Also found guilty by the Court of Appeals:

• Nikolaos Panagiotopoulos, Fire Service Commander of Athens
• Charalampos Chionis, Fire Commander of East Attica
• Filippos Panteleakos, Director of the Civil Protection Operations Center
• Christos Golfinos, Director of the emergency line “199”
• Damianos Papadopoulos, Fire Station Commander in Nea Makri

In addition, Konstantinos Angelopoulos, from whose property the fatal fire started, was also convicted.

However, for these individuals, the court converted their sentences (also multi-year with a 5-year base) to 10 euros per day, effectively suspending prison time. They were convicted of manslaughter by negligence, bodily harm by negligence, and in Angelopoulos’s case, arson by negligence.

Statements and Reactions

“There is real hope for the future—hope that things can get better,” said Varvara Voukaki, who lost her husband and two children in the fire. “I felt my children and all those lost clapping with us,” she added. Other victims’ families also expressed satisfaction with this part of the court’s decision.

Those Acquitted by the Court:

• Rena Dourou, then-Governor of Attica
• Ilias Psinakis, then-Mayor of Marathon
• Antonis Palapatzis, Vaios Thanasias, and Dimitris Stergiou-Kapsalis (local officials)
• Christos Lambris, Director of Fire & Rescue
• Christos Drosopoulos, Captain of the FLOGA vessel
• Georgios Portozoudis, Commander of the Hellenic Rescue Team
• Stefanos Kolokouris, then-Commander of the EMAK (Special Disaster Unit)
• Charalampos Syrogiannis, former Deputy Commander of Police Air Operations
• Evangelos Bournous, then-Mayor of Rafina

What’s Next

Defense lawyers now await the full written decision to review the court’s reasoning—both for denying mitigating factors and for refusing sentence suspension for the four imprisoned.

The case’s next and likely final legal stage would be the Supreme Court (Areios Pagos). However, time is pressing: in summer 2026, the offenses will become statute-barred. If the case proceeds to the Supreme Court, it must be fully tried and concluded within about a year.