Greece: Boat Fire and Wildfire Convictions

A boat carrying tourists off the coast of Greece caught fire, forcing all passengers and crew members to evacuate safely on June 29. Footage shows flames engulfing the vessel. In contrast, in an unrelated incident, a Greek court convicted five former emergency response officials over the deadliest wildfire in country’s history that claimed more than 100 lives near Athens in 2018. However, some survivors were fined and released due to lesser charges of criminal negligence resulting in injury or loss of life. The officials received sentences ranging from 15-111 years for multiple counts but the presiding judge ordered that jail time could be served concurrently capping it at five years as per Greek law, payment can also be deferred pending appeal. Sixth defendant and property owner who started the fire was given a three-year sentence for negligence and released too. Fifteen other officials were cleared of all charges during trial where emergency response personnel described overwhelming circumstances that led to poor evacuation procedures with large sea rescue attempts blocking several exit points amidst high winds, gale force wind conditions and intense heat waves causing extensive damages worth over 1 billion Euros as approximately more than thousand houses got destroyed including 300 cars. Victim’s lawyers were dismayed at the ruling citing that it failed to provide justice for those who died in horrific circumstances or suffered severe injuries, adding that all sense of shame has been lost and victims will never have closure despite state abandonment due to systemic negligence resulting from a poorly coordinated response.