lights by 14 March 2014. Lawsuits and criminal proceedings Families of the dead filed a lawsuit against Boeing on 24 July 2007. Their lawyer, Constantinos Droungas, said, "Boeing put the same alarm in place for two different types of dysfunction. One was a minor fault, but the other—the loss of oxygen in the cockpit—is extremely important." He also said that similar problems had been encountered before on Boeings in Ireland and Norway. The families sued for 76 million euros in compensation from Boeing. The case against Boeing was settled out of court. In early 2008, an Athens prosecutor charged six former employees with manslaughter over the incident. Reports at the time said the suspects were three Cypriots, two Britons and one Bulgarian. On 23 December 2008, Helios Airways and four of its officials were charged in Cyprus with 119 counts of manslaughter, and of causing death by recklessness and negligence. The four officials were: former chief pilot Ianko Stoimenov, chairman of the board Andreas Drakos, chief executive officer Demetris Pantazis, and operations manager Giorgos Kikidis. The trial began in November 2009; the state prosecutors finished presenting their case in June 2011. On 21 December 2011, the case was dismissed, and the defendants were acquitted. The panel of judges hearing the case ruled that there was no “causal association between the defendants, and the negligence they were charged with for the fatal accident.” An appeal was filed by the Cypriot Attorney-general, and in December 2012, the Supreme Court set aside the acquittal and ordered a new trial. Two months later, the retrial was dropped under double jeopardy rules, as the charges had already been heard in Athens. In December 2011, shortly after the end of the case in Cyprus, a new trial began in a Greek magistrate's court, in which chief executive officer Demetris Pantazis, flight operations manager Giorgos Kikkides, former chief pilot Ianko Stoimenov, and chief engineer Alan Irwin were charged with manslaughter. All except Irwin had been previously charged and acquitted by the Cypriot authorities. In April 2012, all were found guilty, and sentenced to 10 years imprisonment, and remained free on bail pending an appeal. By 2013, Alan Irwin was successful in his appeal. All the other defendants lost their appeals. Their sentence of 10 years was ordered to stand, but the defendants were given the option to buy out their sentence for around €79,000 each. Stoimenov was