Following the August recess, the trial regarding the railway accident in Tempi resumes today at the Conference Center of the University of Thessaly in the GAIOPOLIS complex.
At the last hearing, on July 28, the prosecutor of the Three-Member Court of Appeals for Felonies in Larissa read the charges against the 36 defendants, and today the next procedural stage of the defense arguments (independent and negative).
ΣΧΕΤΙΚΑ ΑΡΘΡΑ
The Houthis attacked airports in Saudi Arabia
It should be noted, however, that some of the defense attorneys have already presented their arguments prior to the reading of the indictment and are therefore expected to devote less time to this stage.
It should be recalled that the 36 defendants were, and some of them still are, high-ranking executives or employees of various Greek railway organizations from 2016 to 2023, such as OSE, ERGOSE, RAS, the Ministry of Transport & Infrastructure, and Hellenic Train.
As the presiding judge announced shortly before the conclusion of the last session, once the closing arguments are concluded, the list of witnesses will be announced, and the evidentiary phase will begin with testimony from the first witnesses—the family of the passenger train engineer, one of the 57 victims.
What Happened in Previous Court Sessions
Monday’s trial continues with certain facts that have emerged during the first five months, from the start of the trial on March 23 until its adjournment on July 28.
The courtroom where the trial is being held has been expanded from its original size; those present in support of the prosecution are limited to relatives of the victims, survivors/injured parties, and the Greek State, while the main motions that could have altered the course of the trial were either rejected or deferred until after the conclusion of the evidentiary phase.
The first and most important issue the court had to address concerned the courtroom. At the first hearing, lawyers and relatives of the victims protested the size of the courtroom and the conditions under which the trial was being conducted. Following the strong reactions, the first modification was made by removing drywall and merging the foyer area with the main courtroom.
The most significant change followed in May, when the court adjourned for a month to allow for extensive renovations to the courtroom. Thus, after additional drywall was removed from adjacent rooms, the total area of the courtroom increased from 283.75 square meters to 452.01 square meters, and more benches for the attorneys and seats for the public were added.
Once the issue with the courtroom had been resolved, the next matter was the testimony in support of the prosecution. Initially, relatives of the victims, injured parties, bar associations, and the train drivers’ union “Panhellenic Union of Traction Personnel” announced they would make statements.
However, the statement that provoked a reaction from the victims’ relatives and their attorneys was that of the Greek State, since—as they claimed—the fact that it targets only the three accused stationmasters and the then-head of the Larissa Inspection Department of the Central and Southern Greece Traffic Support Service of the OSE Traffic Directorate—removes from the “picture” of responsibility those accused of being investigated for gaps in the safety systems.
Ultimately, the court rejected the motions filed by the Bar Associations and the labor union and accepted only the Greek State’s motion regarding the felony of endangering transportation safety.
The opening statements were followed by the stage for submitting motions. Some of these motions concerned audiovisual coverage and broadcast of the trial, the summoning of new witnesses, the upgrading of the charges, and the filing of charges for new offenses. Specific motions, such as the one regarding media coverage of the trial, were rejected, while the court reserved judgment on the remaining motions concerning the upgrading of charges, pending the outcome of the evidentiary proceedings.
In July, requests to postpone the trial were also filed by defense attorneys for accused ERGOSE executives who are also defendants in the case being handled by the Greek unit of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office regarding Contract 717. The request for a postponement until the case is heard by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office was rejected, as were the objections regarding the invalidity of the summons and the request to declarethe criminal prosecution against the former president of ERGOSE on the grounds of pending litigation. The motions to dismiss the criminal prosecution on the grounds of res judicata for specific ERGOSE defendants were also rejected.
The charges
On July 28, the prosecutor began reading the charges against the stationmaster on the evening shift, who, according to the indictment, failed to set the automatic route and did not properly manually regulate traffic, nor did he check the local control panel to ensure that the passenger train was traveling on the uphill track and not the downhill track. Along with the stationmaster, his two colleagues from the afternoon shift are also charged, who left before the end of their shift, leaving the stationmaster alone to manage traffic. Also charged is the then-Head of Inspection at OSE, who assigned the stationmaster to the evening shift even though, according to the indictment, he knew the stationmaster was inexperienced for such a position.
Two members of the OSE transfer committee and the president of OSE are charged with the misdemeanor of dereliction of duty for approving the stationmaster’s transfer in 2022 as part of the, even though he had exceeded the established age limit and, furthermore, was not a specialist in the field of transportation and road safety.
The omissions attributed to ten OSE executives, former presidents and managing directors of the Organization, directors of the Railway Systems Directorates, and general directors of the General Directorate of the Network, relate, among other things, to the failure to repair malfunctions affecting the operation of the signaling and telecommand systems on the disputed section of the railroad network between Larissa Railroad Station and theNea Poros Railway Station, by failing to issue a speed restriction circular to limit train speeds on that specific section and by failing to assign two stationmasters to the night shift at LarissaLarissa Station.
For 16 ERGOSE executives—three former presidents, vice presidents, and managing directors; one director of projects; two heads of the Projects Division, supervising engineers, and railway systems supervisors—from 2016 through February 28, 2023- The omissions pertain to the failure to complete Contract 717, which concerned the “Reconfiguration and Upgrade of the Signaling- Remote Control, and Replacement of 70 Track Switches on Specific Sections of the Athens – Thessaloniki – Promachonas axis (excluding the Tithorea–Domokos section),” with the seven total extensions granted and a supplementary contract.
The former chair of the Railway Regulatory Authority was referred by the Greek railway oversight bodies, and a former deputy directorof the General Directorate of Transportation and the then-head of the Directorate of Rail Transportation were referred. Some of the omissions attributed to them include failing to issue recommendations and instructions to OSE regarding the maintenance and repair of the disputed section of the railway network and failing to impose administrative sanctions.
Hellenic Train accuses the company’s then-CEO and technical director of the failure of the GSM-R radio communication system. The two Hellenic Train defendants are charged only with the misdemeanors of multiple counts of negligent homicide, multiple counts of causing serious bodily injury through negligence by a person in a position of responsibility, and multiple counts of causing simple bodily injury through negligence by a person in a position of responsibility.
A total of 33 defendants, in addition to the misdemeanors of negligent homicide and negligent bodily injury, also face the felony of dangerous interference with rail transportationwith possible intent, through acts dangerous to transportation safety, which could have posed a general danger to property and a danger to people, and which resulted in: a) the death of a large number of people, b) serious bodily injury to a number of people, and c) significant damage to public utility facilities, committed repeatedly. This felony is punishable by up to life imprisonment.
SOURCE: APE-MPE
