Retired Naval officer sues the Greek State over fires

A retired naval officer launched the first lawsuit on Monday against the Greek state over the recent fire tragedy.

Retired navy officer Panagiotis Stamatis filed the lawsuit with the chief prosecutor of the Athens Appeals Court Antonios Liogas on Monday,

In his lawsuit, Stamatis pressed charges against any and all persons responsible, including ministers, ministry staff, elected officials at the Attica regional authority and municipalities and others.

The former naval officer also asked the courts to examine whether charges can be brought against them for serious criminal actions, including murder, causing fires, reckless endangerment, violations of building regulations resulting in deaths and dereliction of duty.

Stamatis noted that none of the officials in authority had given orders for the evacuation of the settlements of Neos Voutzas and Mati, unlike various foreign embassies that arranged for the mass sending of e-mails warning their nationals in the area, either residents or holidaymakers, or the orderly evacuations to safe locations residents in the nearby military and municipal summer camps in Agios Andreas.