Explanations for two misdemeanour offences are to be given today in a criminal court by the former Chief of the Fire Brigade, Vassilis Matthaiopoulos. The case concerns the threats that Mr Mattheopoulos allegedly made against the expert Dimitris Liotsios in order for the latter to cover up those responsible for the deadly fire in Mati, which claimed the lives of 102 people.
The former Chief of the Fire Brigade was prosecuted for the offences of dereliction of duty and attempted unlawful violence (misdemeanours). The prosecution was brought by the Prosecutor of First Instance, Nikos Antonarakos, following the complaint filed by Mr Liotsios, alleging that he had been subjected to pressure in order to cover up those responsible for the tragedy at Mati. It should be noted that Mr Liotsios had been appointed as an expert witness by the Athens Public Prosecutor's Office as part of the preliminary investigation into the search for criminal responsibility for the fatal fire. In fact, he had mentioned the pressure he had been subjected to in his testimony before the investigating judge Athanasios Marneris, who had conducted the inquest on Mati.
According to reports, the former chief of the Fire Brigade allegedly, among other things, threatened Mr Liotsios, asking him, with a boyish tone, to bury any evidence he had gathered. "If you write about the responsibilities of your superiors we will all get together and tear you apart... Make it simple and let them think you are stupid: Five little things: Winds, fuel, mixing pine trees with houses, building anarchic, arbitrary. As a result, the fire was gone within an hour. I'm not putting you in trouble or anything, five little things from your experience. If your evidence is incomplete in your ar@@@@, what will the prosecutor tell you? Nothing. This is what I had, this is what I found, this is what I put in," were just some of the words Mr. Liotsios, who is also one of the key witnesses in the case about the deadly fire, had turned his complaint not only against Mr. Matthaiopoulos but also against any other responsible person who might come to light during the prosecution's investigation. He had also submitted to the prosecution authorities the recorded conversation with Mr. Mattheopoulos.
Finally, it is worth noting that this prosecution against the former chief of the Fire Brigade had become known a few days after the prosecutor's proposal last October for the indictment of 27 defendants in connection with the deadly fire that left 102 people dead. Among the persons for whom the prosecutor requested a referral for trial are Mr. Mattheopoulos, as well as S. Terzoudis, Georgios Portozoudis, Ioannis Kapakis, Rena Dourou, Elias Psinakis, etc. The offences for which those involved are requested to be tried are manslaughter by negligence by omission and bodily injury by negligence by omission (misdemeanours).
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Cyprus Times
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