The Athens Criminal Court of Appeals convicted three defendants for the 2017 floods in the town of Mandra that killed 25 people.
The 2017 flash floods lifted cars, crushed buildings, and toppled telephone poles. Many were left homeless and many died trapped and unable to evacuate. “Everything is lost. The disaster is biblical,” then Mandra Mayor Ioanna Kriekouki told state broadcaster ERT.
The former mayor, the former head of the Elefsina urban planning office, and an Attica Region employee were all three convicted for the crime of causing a flood. However they were acquitted of all other charges including negligent homicide, personal injury, and breach of duty. The former mayor was sentenced to 14 months with a three-year suspended sentence, and the two other public officials sentenced to 18 months each with a three-year suspended sentence. Five other defendants were acquitted of all charges.
The President Judge of the Court of Appeals criticized local authorities prior to announcing her decision, noting that the Mandra municipality had buildings illegally constructed on a streambed which contributed to the disaster. The mayor’s defense that she had “inherited” the buildings from a previous government was rejected, with the court asserting it was her duty to address prior illegal actions.
The judge also stated that the Meteorological Service and the General Secretariat for Civil Protection should have informed citizens earlier about the expected rain and flooding, and that police failed to take sufficient measures to protect citizens on the road.
The victims’ families’ lawyers condemned the decision, stating they will seek further legal action, arguing that the flood deaths were not accidental but preventable: “The deaths of the people in Mandra were neither an accident nor ‘bad timing.’”
Initially, 21 officials were charged in relation to the floods, but many were acquitted in lower courts, including the then regional governor of Attica.
