A first instance courts prosecutor in the central city of Larissa has approved the exhumation request for the body of Denni Ruci, the son of hunger striker Panos Ruci. The younger man was one of the 57 victims in the 2023 Tempi rail disaster.
By directive of the Larissa Court of First Instance, Greek Police will launch a preliminary investigation to facilitate the exhumation. The step aims to fulfill Ruci’s demand for a forensic review of his son’s remains. Other relatives of crash victims have likewise filed exhumation requests, which the prosecutor is expected to evaluate next.
Ruci, who for several days has been staging a hunger strike in front of the Greek parliament, has captured growing public attention. His protest centers on previous refusals by judicial authorities to permit the exhumation of his son. He maintains that only a complete autopsy and toxicology reports can reveal the true circumstances of his son’s death.
Public solidarity has swelled over recent days, as hundreds of people visit him daily at Syntagma Square to express support, and numerous professional associations and cultural unions have backed his call. The political opposition and a group representing families of the victims of the Tempi disaster investigation have accused judicial authorities of hastily closing the case, whose investigation has now reached two and a half years, and failing to include what they claim is key evidence or toxicology results.
Nevertheless, in a later report, Panos Ruci said he’ll continue his hunger strike because the prosecutor’s approval does not include toxicological tests.
Greece’s Supreme Court issued an announcement this week on the matter, first emphasizing that a formal request had to be made by the father, while warning that the statute of limitations was running out for misdemeanor charges filed against several defendants in the case.
