Τhree defendants, who were being retried over the deadly floods in Mandra, West Attica in 2017, which killed 25 people, were acquitted on August 28th by an Athens misdemeanor appeals court.
The case returned to court after Greece’s Supreme Court annulled a previous ruling that had cleared them of negligent homicide.
The former mayor of Mandra, the former head of Elefsina’s urban planning service and the deputy head of the West Attica regional technical works directorate were unanimously found not guilty.
The judges did not adopt the prosecutor’s recommendation, which sought convictions for two of the three officials in connection with nine of the deaths that occurred within Mandra’s urban area.
Prosecutors argued the former planning chief failed to act against illegal construction in local streams, while the deputy works director neglected adequate cleaning and oversight of waterways.
They recommended acquittal for the former mayor in all 25 cases, and for the remaining defendants in 16 deaths, including victims on the national highway and hunters caught in the mountains.
The retrial focused exclusively on negligent homicide charges linked to the disaster.
