Damning audio sheds light on Mati fire litigation
The repeated requests for the charges faced by fire brigade and civil protection officials over their management of the deadly fire in Mati in 2018 to be upgraded from misdemeanors to felonies have received a fresh boost with an Athens prosecutor’s call for audio recordings including threats by ex-fire chief Vassilis Mattheopoulos against investigator Dimitris Liotsios to be introduced in the court case.
“If you write about the responsibilities of your superiors, we will all gather and tear you apart,” Mattheopoulos is heard saying to Liotsios.
Liotsios was on the list of experts of the fire brigade and had been asked to undertake the investigation for Mati.
In January this year he requested that the charges faced by officials be upgraded from misdemeanors to felonies, citing false reports regarding the mobilization of the air resources, and the declaration of the region in a state of emergency.
