A 66-year-old man accused of repeatedly setting wildfires in June in the greater Athens area was ordered held on remain on Thursday after providing testimony – as a suspect – to an investigating magistrate.
The suspect has been identified as a university-level lecturer, in sociology, who at one point even taught courses at the Greek Police (EL.AS) academy for several years.
He stands accused of starting four blazes in the Vari township, a mixed suburban and rural district southeast of Athens proper.
The suspect denied the charges and said he was at home, in Vari, during the incidents.
Authorities said he had filed repeated complaints over plots of land that were not cleared, as per the latest legislation to curb wildfires.
Video footage was used to first issue a warrant for his arrest.
