After a marathon trial starting in 2017, the court has ordered payment of 36 million euros in compensation to victims’ families, and jail terms for the then mayor, the nightclub owners, and the firework companies.
Portraits depicting the ‘Colectiv’ nightclub fire victims and shrouded volunteers on the front stairs of Bucharest’s Appeal Court building, marking the sixth anniversary of the 2015 disaster, October 30, 2021. Photol: EPA-EFE/Robert Ghement
The Bucharest Court of Appeal ruled on Thursday that the families of the victims of the Colectiv nightclub fire in Bucharest in 2015 were entitled to total damages of about 36 million euros.
The rationale for the final sentence was issued on Friday. The trial started in September 2017, almost two years after the deadly incident.
The fire on October 30, 2015 claimed the lives of 65 people. Another 146 persons were seriously injured.
The compensation amounts to be granted to the victims’ families range from 1,000 Romanian lei [around 200 euros] to one million euros.
The compensation will be paid jointly by the City Hall of Sector 4 district in Bucharest, the Inspectorate for Emergency Situations “Dealu Spirii” Bucharest-Ilfov, the companies SC Colectiv Club SRL and SC Golden Ideas Fireworks Artists SRL.
The owners of the club, Anastasescu George Alin, Mincu Costin, Gancea Paul Catalin and the pyrotechnicians Moise Marian and Zaharia Viorel, will also have to pay compensation.
The Court of Appeal also sentenced the mayor of Sector 5 in Bucharest, Cristian Popescu Piedone, mayor of Sector 4 at the time of the fire, to four years in prison.
The owners of the nightclub and the firework company were sentenced to six and 11 years in prison respectively.
Piedone was finally sentenced to four years in prison after being previously sentenced to eight years and six months, in a first instance verdict in 2019.
The Colectiv case had political implications at the highest level. The then Prime Minister, Social Democrat Victor Ponta, resigned on November 5, 2015, just a few days after the fire, following massive street demonstrations against corruption prompted by the tragedy.
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