The consequences of the actions of a 69-year-old man found guilty some two weeks ago of the wildfires of July 3, 2021, in the mountainous area Arakapas in the Limassol district, were “disastrous, extensive and unprecedented,” the Criminal Court said in its ruling on Monday sentencing the accused to eight years in prison.

According to a statement from the Legal Service, the court stated during the sentencing process, that “the defendant intentionally and illegally set fire to the river bed, near his orchard, with the motive to burn the dense vegetation.”

“The consequences of this act were devastating, extensive and unprecedented […], while the fire went out of control and was extinguished the day after,” it notes, adding that the accused had left the scene and the area, at the time when large forces were mobilised to put out the blaze.

As a result of the fire, four people died in the village of Odou in the Larnaca district, while the material damage exceeds €15 million.

The Legal Service recalls that, on May 24, 2023, the 69-year-old was found guilty by the Limassol Criminal Court to charges related to the offences of “setting fire to crops” and lighting a fire in the countryside, with the court deeming the incident as sufficient testimony, on which the Legal Service relied on, as the Prosecuting Authority, to convict the accused.