“Catapult” is the indictment against the former Regional Governor of Thessaly, Kostas Agorastos, and 9 other persons who are referred to a trial before the Three-member Misdemeanor Appeal Court of Larissa for the deadly floods that hit Karditsa in September 2020.
The prosecutor who carried out the relevant investigation found a series of “omissions” by K. Agorastos, the then deputy governor of Karditsa, Konstantinos Noussios, the then head of the Directorate of Technical Works of the Region of Thessaly, Konstantinos Alexopoulos and the then head of the Directorate of Technical Works of the PE Karditsas, Dimitris Koutromanou.
The specific defendants failed to perform a series of “actions” in the exercise of their duties. Among them, “in the execution and planning to be carried out of anti-flooding projects based on an organized methodological framework and integrated study plan in the Karditsa Region and the rivers Pamiso, Karabali, Kalentzi, in the Gavra stream, etc.”, “in the periodic control and maintenance of the existing anti-flooding projects protection, so as to ensure their most effective and uninterrupted operation”, “in acts of demarcation of all the main watercourses at all the length of the wider area of the Municipalities of Mouzaki and Argithea and the wider area of Karditsa and in acts of drawing up hydraulic studies of demarcation and arrangement of the existing streams “, etc.”
Skips in the time of the storm
Even with regard to Agorastos, the prosecutors identified “omissions” regarding the coordination and supervision of the work of civil protection for the preparedness to deal with risks from the occurrence of flooding phenomena, the convening of the Coordinating Bodies of Civil Protection (SOPP)”.
As highlighted in the indictment, on September 18 and 19, 2020, when the bad weather Janos hit Thessaly and the “embankments on the Karambalis river, around the city of Karditsa and to the southeast could not withstand and broke”, both Agorastos and the then deputy governor of Karditsa, Constantinos Noussios, they never drew up “an emergency plan with the hire of private machinery, in order to strengthen the embankments at the Fagana site of the Karabalis river throughout the night, so as to prevent the risk of the river overflowing towards the city of Karditsa during the great tension of the flow of water within the river”.
Their “omissions” resulted in a flood that caused “extensive damage to structures and infrastructure and alteration of the natural environment, destroyed the road network, collapsed bridges, swept away and drowned animals in stables, houses, beehives, caused incalculable damage to residences , businesses, warehouses, means of transport, machinery, crops, etc., while a risk was also caused to human lives”.
As pointed out, although “they had a special obligation to protect the area from the risks arising due to extreme weather phenomena”, they did not pay the attention they should have, their omissions led to a complete deviation of the situation and the inflow of a large volume of water in all affected areas”.
They did not convene the SOPP
One of their omissions consists in the fact that “they did not legally convene the Coordinating Body of Civil Protection in the Karditsa Regional Unit in a timely manner”, “they did not mobilize through the Directorates of Civil Protection the operationally involved personnel and civil protection means of the Region” and “they did not support the work of the other operationally involved entities (PS, EL.AS Municipalities) with means that the Region has immediately available or can secure from other entities”.
According to the indictment “the purpose of SOOP would be the better coordination of all the agencies involved at the level of the Karditsa Regional Unit in civil protection actions to deal with emergencies and the immediate short-term management of the consequences in the Municipality of Mouzaki”.
All their omissions resulted in three people losing their lives. The pharmacist Evdokia – Myrto Plakia and two more residents of the area, one of whom was a cattle breeder who was in his “fold” and was not notified of the arrival of the dangerous weather phenomena.
The defendants
It is recalled that, as revealed by documentonews.gr in a trial before the Three-member Misdemeanor Appeal Court of Larisa, the then regional governor of Thessaly, Kostas Agorastos, the General Secretary of Civil Protection, Vassilis Papageorgiou and 8 other persons are referred as defendants.
Read also: Bad weather Janos: On the “stool” Agorastos, Papageorgiou and 8 more people for the deadly floods
Among them the then deputy regional governor of Karditsa, Konstantinos Noussios, the then head of the Directorate of Technical Works of the Region of Thessaly, Dimitris Koutromanos, the then mayor of Karditsa Vassilis Tsiakos, the mayor of Mouzaki, Karditsa Theofanis Stathis, officials of the Municipal Water Supply Company of Karditsa. The charges they face refer to the misdemeanor offenses “of negligent flooding by omission, from which a danger to foreign things and to a person arose, and of negligent homicide by omission once and in a row”.
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