Two men, aged 19 and 27, have been remanded in custody following their testimony before the Patras Investigating Magistrate in connection with the arson that caused the fire in the Sychaina area of Patras.
The defendants appeared before the magistrate shortly after 11 a.m., and after lengthy depositions, the decision was made to keep them in pre-trial detention.
Meanwhile, a third suspect, a 25-year-old accused of setting a separate fire in the Giokomeio area, will appear before the Investigating Magistrate of Patras on Monday. On Saturday, he was granted an extension to prepare his defence.
His defence lawyers, Theofanis A. Christopoulos and Panagiotis S. Kapotas, issued a written statement contesting the charges. They insist that their client was present in the area solely in his capacity as a volunteer, aiming to assist in extinguishing the fire alongside three others. Two of those individuals have already testified under oath to the authorities, confirming his active participation in firefighting efforts, while the third is expected to testify before the investigating magistrate.
Referring to photographs circulating in the media, the lawyers argued that “certain zoomed-in images show our client in the middle of a plot of land, creating a misleading impression. If the full frame of the photo were shown, it would be clear that other individuals- including the owner of the neighbouring property that was burned- were standing nearby. Our client was there to put out a small fire that had started from an ember.”
The statement further cites the official report from the Fire Service, which determined that the blaze in the Giokomeio area was not caused by human action, but rather by the natural phenomenon of “spotting”, the transmission of fire through embers carried by the wind.
Also read: Greece leads on wildfires, third day of battles
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