A judge in Larissa has recused herself from a trial examining the handling of surveillance footage connected to the 2023 Tempi train crash, following a tense exchange in the courtroom.
The judge, presiding over the Single-Member Misdemeanor Court, announced her decision after a confrontation with Zoe Konstantopoulou, who is representing some of the families of victims and is the leader of the political party Plefsi Eleftherias. “I have received many insults. I will declare my recusal,” the judge reportedly said.
A case focused on video evidence
The trial does not concern the causes of the crash itself, but rather the management of video material from a freight train linked to the collision.
According to the indictment, footage from the Thessaloniki Freight Station was not submitted to the appellate investigating judge handling the main case into the crash. In the months following the disaster, new data was allegedly recorded over the original files on a digital hard drive.
When the material was eventually delivered to authorities in the summer of 2023, it was no longer possible to recover the original footage.
The defendants and allegations
Three people are facing charges in connection with the handling of the material: a former president of Greece’s state railway organization (OSE), a former chief executive of OSE, and the legal representative of Interstar Security, the company responsible for guarding and monitoring the railway network since 2017.
The Interstar executive is charged with repeated removal of documents and failure to comply with a lawful order. The former OSE chief executive faces charges of inciting those acts, both as a single act and on a continuing basis, as well as incitement to disobey a lawful order. The former OSE president is charged with incitement to the removal of documents related to Feb. 28, 2023, the day of the crash.
Proceedings interrupted
Before stepping aside, the judge granted a request from lawyers representing the victims’ families for partial access to digital data seized from devices belonging to two court-appointed experts, who are also expected to testify in the case.
Lawyers are now receiving copies of that material, while the Larissa Judicial Council will decide whether to accept the judge’s recusal.
