The 60-year-old man accused of setting four fires in the wider Messina area is being taken to prison. The investigating officer and prosecutor agreed to impose temporary detention , after a plea that lasted over four hours in the Kalamata Courts. The charges against him concern intentional, serial and repeated arsons .
He has reportedly denied all charges, claiming that he did not cause any of the fires attributed to him. However, the authorities believe they have strong evidence. This is video footage collected by the Messinia Arson Investigation Unit, which allegedly shows the accused.
The defense moved along two axes. The first concerned the serious health problems faced by the 60-year-old. The second concerned the magnitude of the events themselves, with the defense attorney arguing that the fires were limited to a small area and did not cause serious damage.
What seems to have finally decided the case was the chronology of events. The defendant had already been arrested once, on August 27 , in the context of the autophoric proceedings, for two fires. He was released and, as the indictment states, just three days later he allegedly started two more.
This sequence largely explains the decision for temporary detention. The risk of committing new offenses is one of the main reasons for imposing the measure in Greek law, and in cases of arson in the midst of a firefighting season, the stakes far exceed material damage.
The 60-year-old is expected to be transferred to a prison to be designated by the competent authorities, maintaining the presumption of innocence until an irrevocable decision is issued.
