The trial for the Mati fire in Greece in July 2018 will begin anew, and twenty defendants will appear in court again after the verdict was annulled.
According to him, found guilty only five out of twenty, and the survivors and those who lost their loved ones are demanding fair justice. Mati resident Chrysa Gerakaki says:
“We knew from the beginning that the outcome of the trial would be disappointing. However, we were very disappointed during the trial because we felt there was no justice.”
Athena Mutafi's son died at sea on July 23, 2018, in front of her eyes. The woman struggled in the water for six hours to save her daughter, and she succeeded. Sentence, handed down in April, six years later, came as a shock. She recalls:
“It was very difficult for me to testify. You need to tell everything in detail to relive it. I struggled at sea again. The same thing happened with my daughter. Because along with my son I also had a daughter, who, fortunately , is alive. So at that moment I also had the emotional burden of my daughter because I knew how difficult it was.”
Witnesses will have to relive the tragic moments of their lives at the hearings in the Court of Appeal, writes euronews. Aris Cherub, who lost his mother, sister and twin nieces (pictured) in the fire, says:
''We believe that justice denies itself. The first trial did something wrong, and now we say everything went wrong and we start all over again? But yes, I’m happy because it confirmed that there was something wrong with the first trial.”
There is now a race against time for the process to begin in 2024. A final decision, that is, a decision by the Supreme Court, must be made by 2026.
More Stories
Crete: Farmer suffers multiple gunshot wounds, part of his tongue is cut off
Lightning kills 150 animals at livestock farm in Aetoloakarnania
For the first time in Swedish history, women have been prosecuted for gang rape