Persons entitled to order an evacuation to Eye was named by forensic expert Dimitris Liotsios, who is testifying at the fifth trial in the case of the murderous fire that claimed the lives of hundreds of people on July 23, 2018.

The prosecutor, appointed by the prosecutor’s office to investigate the reasons why the fire turned into a tragedy, showed that the argument, put forward even in the administrative courts, that the planned eviction of the residents of the area was not operationally expedient, is invalid. . At the same time, he stressed that no instructions were given to citizens so that they knew what to do and how to move in order to be saved.

After stating after a related question that his fee for his investigation amounted to 150 euros, the fire chief emphasized that from the very beginning of the fire, the leaders had an idea of ​​the criticality of the situation and that they had almost an hour before their evacuation, since they knew that there are no conditions for fighting fire. “The mobilization that took place earlier in Kinet did not take place,” he said.

Answering the questions of the lawyers of the victims, the witness listed those of the 21 defendants who gave the order for the expulsion of citizens.

• Lawyer: Is he really to blame for all this?
• Witness: The court will decide. I wrote down all the evidence, but it’s up to the court to decide.
• Lawyer: Who is authorized to plan and coordinate the eviction operation
• Witness: ESKE.
• Lawyer: ESKE was the body. WHO; Specifically.
• Witnesses: (then Deputy Fire Chief) Sotiris Terzudis, (then Chief) Vassilis Mattaiopoulos, (then) ESKE Commander Ioannis Fostieris and (then) General Secretary of Civil Protection Ioannis Capakis.
• Lawyer: At 17.00 ESKE, who all gathered, know all the facts. From now on, who and what should he do?
• Witness: From 16.45 there was all the information, the ground leaders were asking for air means.
• Lawyer: Is removal possible?
• Witness: Until 17.30. Mattaiopoulos and Christos Golfinos (then in charge of PS ground forces) were informed of the fire, there were no facilities to put out the fire, only one helicopter was in operation. I had to order the removal.
• Lawyer: Well, everyone who was in ESKE knew about the fire. Should the boss make a recommendation to remove citizens?
• Witness: Yes, but I don’t know why he didn’t. Since there is a risk of calculations, he had to take into account all his data, people would be at risk.

During the interrogation, the witness again spoke about the pressure and threats he received from the defendant, then Deputy Fire Chief V. Mattaiopoulos, in order not to reveal the evidence.

^{Source: RES-IPE}