On the evening of June 21, a little before 11 p.m. local time, the preserved pine forest of the tourist island of Hydra, overlooking the bay of Agios Nikolaos, was on fire. Nearly 350 meters from the shore, a yacht, the Persephone-1, accommodates seventeen passengers and thirteen crew members. Very quickly, the island’s seasonal firefighters published a photo on social networks and explained that “The fire, caused by fireworks fired from a boat, is burning the only pine forest on the island, in a place that is difficult to access and has no roads.”
The reactions are strong. The mayor of Hydra, Giorgos Koukoudakis, told the public television channel ERT that he “outraged that some people would so irresponsibly set off fireworks in a pine forest.” He also worries that, despite repeated fires in Greece in recent years, Hydra “still has no fire zones or forest roads” allowing firefighters to access certain isolated areas.
On the morning of June 22, the justice system took charge of the case. Only the thirteen members of the Greek crew were questioned and prosecuted for ” criminal fire “. On the morning of Thursday, June 27, the Piraeus court decided to detain the captain and his first mate until the opening of their trial, at a date yet to be determined. The other eleven crew members were released on parole under judicial supervision, with a ban on leaving Greece. According to their lawyers, the eleven crew members were also required to pay bail ranging from 10,000 to 20,000 euros depending on the case.
Oligarchs on board the ship
During his hearing, as reported by the Greek newspaper Ethnosthe captain proclaimed his innocence and assured that he had “immediately contacted the firefighters when he saw the fire at 10:32 p.m.”. “No fireworks were set off, no celebrations were taking place. The passengers had dined at Hydra Town early and returned to the ship after finishing their cruise which had started a week ago.he assured.
His statements are contradicted by two eyewitnesses, members of the crew of another yacht moored in a nearby bay. The investigating judge has requested new expert reports before continuing the trial.
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The fact that the seventeen passengers of the yacht, rented for 250,000 euros per week, mainly of Kazakh origin, were not heard by the Greek authorities also arouses significant controversy. The day after the incident, they were able to board a private jet, as revealed by the consortium of investigative journalists Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP). On board the luxurious ship were oligarchs, including Daniyar Abulgazin, one of the richest men in Kazakhstan, head of a large oil company and close to the country’s former president Nursultan Nazarbayev, according to the investigation of OCCRP. Faced with the scandal, criminal proceedings for complicity in the fire were opened Thursday evening against eight passengers from Kazakhstan.
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