The Appeal Court of Patra has found four out of five defendants guilty for the charges faced in relation to catastrophic fires that ravaged Ilia in August of 2007.
According to local media, the former prefect governor of Ilia Charalambos Kafyras, the former mayor of Zacharo Pantazis Chronopoulos, former fireguard Panagiotis Tsouras and 84-year-old local resident Sofia Nikolopoulou were all found guilty of arson.
The head of a local Fire Department Nikos Michalopoulos was found innocent, at the proposal of the prosecution. The bench has suspended proceedings in order to discuss the sentences to be enforced.
The lethal fires which broke out in August 2007 burned down about 270,000 hectares of farmland and forests and resulted in resulted in 63 deaths. About 1,500 homes were burned down and 6,000 people were left homeless.
The archeological site of Ancient Olympia was risk and saved at the last moment, when the surrounding forest caught fire.
