The Supreme Court has found the defendants in the deadly fire in Mati in July 2018—which claimed the lives of 104 people—guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
However, the Supreme Court’s decision, in its operative part, partially overturns the Court of Appeals’ ruling regarding the rejection of the mitigating factor of good conduct for the then-chief of the Fire Department, Sotiris Terzoudis, the then-deputy chief, Vasilis Matthaiopoulos, and the then-secretary general of Civil Protection, Ioannis Kapakis.
«Partially overturns the contested decision of the First Criminal Division Criminal Court of First Instance of Athens insofar as it concerns the rejection of the mitigating circumstance under Article 84(2)(a) of the Penal Code for each of the first three appellants, S. T., V. M., and I. K., but also, even if it were upheld, with respect to the prison sentences imposed on each of them, as well as the total prison sentences imposed on the first three appellants, and the respective prison sentences to be assessed for each of them,» as stated verbatim in Decision No. 694/2026, which remands the case to the Court of Appeals for a retrial regarding the mitigating circumstances.
It should be noted that, in June 2025, the Three-Member Court of Appeals for Misdemeanors of the Second Instance had imposed a total sentence of 340 years, with 5 years to be served, on Sotiris Terzoudis, Vasilis Matthaiopoulos, Ioannis Fostieris, and Ioannis Kapakis, resulting in their imprisonment.
«The four defendants are being sentenced to prison terms without probation or suspension, as they are considered likely to commit new crimes, and we will provide further justification in our decision,» the presiding judge had stated at the time.
