By Poly Pantelides
THE JAIL sentences handed down to former defence minister Costas Papacostas and three others found guilty in the Mari trial failed to satisfy relatives of the 13 victims yesterday.
And, presiding judge Tefcros Economou said that no punishment made sense if the state itself did not also change the mentality which led to the deaths in the first place.
Papacostas was given five years on charges of manslaughter while former fire service chief Andreas Nicolaou, former deputy chief Charalambos Charalambous, and Andreas Loizides, the former commander of the disaster response squad EMAK were each given two years.
“All of this will acquire meaning only if a new mentality prevails to place legality above all else and place true respect towards life at the heart of the thoughts and actions of those exercising power,” said Economou.
“Otherwise, the twisted system will proceed unhampered on to the next tragedy,” he added.
Relatives of the sailors and firemen who were killed in the blast, cried on hearing the sentencing.
Bursting into tears, the mother of fireman victim Vassilis Krokos who said: “I have a dead [son]. You can’t bring him back.”
“I am a woman clad in black. I won’t have my son, my brave lad,” said the mother of fireman Panayiotis Theofilou, outside the court room. Her husband later told reporters that the sentences were not severe enough.
Father of fireman Spyros Ttantis who also died in the blast called the sentence a “betrayal of the 13 people who were killed in Mari.”
“Everyone was responsible,” he said, trying to contain his tears. He expressed his anguish at the authorities not informing the firemen, his son among them, of the dangers and ordering them to approach the site. “My son wouldn’t go near for 48 minutes but the order came for them to proceed,” he said.
The munitions, confiscated in 2009 from a Cyprus-flagged ship sailing from Iran to Syria, had been stored at Evangelos Florakis base in 98 containers near Mari left exposed to the elements until the day of their explosion.
The blast killed seven sailors and six firemen and damaged the island’s biggest power station, nearby.
“This was a universal, inexcusable and infuriating malfunction of our political and administrative system and that the accused were part of that system,” the court said, in handing down the sentences, which took about one hour.
“They were aware of a real risk of death and despite that they failed to act as they should have,” the court said.
On July 9, the Larnaca criminal court Papacostas guilty of manslaughter. Nicolaou, Charalambous, and Loizides, were found guilty of causing death due to a reckless and dangerous act. Papacostas, 73, faced a maximum sentence of life imprisonment, while the other three faced up to four years in jail. All the guilty parties have reportedly appealed the court’s decision.
Papacostas was not in court as he has been in the Nicosia General Hospital since the day of the verdict.
The former minister, who quit hours after the naval base blast, suffered an aneurysm about two years ago and has ongoing heart, blood pressure and kidney problems.
Papacostas’ doctors have said that imprisonment could reduce his life expectancy and lead to his health deteriorating to such an extent that he could end up facing end-stage kidney disease, the court said. According to the UK’s National Health Service, this would necessitate dialysis. “In such a case, keeping [Papacostas] in prison would be particularly onerous,” the medical reports said. Authorities are expected to take any measures necessary in relation to Papacostas’ health treatment, the court said. His doctors have not yet okayed his being taken out of hospital, however.
However the court said the former minister’s omissions over time and his awareness of the danger were “unquestionable”. “The result has been the deaths of 13 people.”
The Larnaca court did acknowledge the history and contribution Papacostas had made to his country, while taking into account his health. It had also taken into account the family situation of the other three men, it said.
In relation to Nicolaou, Charalambous and Loizides, Economou said that they were indirectly responsible for the blast in the sense that they had not handled the situation as they ought to have.
Two others charged in the case, former foreign minister Marcos Kyprianou and deputy National Guard commander Savvas Argyrou were acquitted on July 9.
In relation to former national guard chief Petros Tsalikidis, who is a Greek national, the court said that it did not know “if and when prosecution in Greece would proceed.” “The fact Tsalikidis was not among the persons who are to be punished today, constitutes in one way or another unequal treatment and creates feelings of injustice among the accused and society,” the court said.
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