Relatives of the victims of the Tempi train disaster appeared at the steps of the Supreme Court (Areios Pagos) on Thursday to file a formal request for the upgrading of charges against former Transport Minister Kostas Karamanlis, from a misdemeanor breach of duty to a felony charge related to transportation safety. Their argument is that the political overseer of the rail network cannot remain “out of the picture” while other individuals involved in the case face far more serious charges.
Angelos Bozos: “I Flew in from Switzerland, Sleepless, for Something That Should Be Obvious”
Angelos Bozos traveled from abroad to appear before the Supreme Court in honor of his father, Socrates Bozos, who was killed in the disaster. “I flew in from Switzerland, no sleep, left my job behind, to chase down Karamanlis for something that should be taken for granted,” he said outside the country’s highest court, while also expressing pessimism about the outcome of the case.
“I know that if I drive recklessly and hit someone, I go to prison. Here, with what happened, with trains that were practically flying blind with no safety system in place, the minister is sitting at home. Unfortunately, the way things are going, I don’t see us getting justice, though I hope I’m wrong,” he added.
Karamanlis and Parliamentary Committee Members in the Crosshairs
The attorney representing the Bozos and Kyriacidis families, Mary Hatzikonstantinou, explained the legal basis for the day’s action, stressing that the goal is to have the full weight of felony responsibility properly assigned. “The trains were blind and the ministry knew it,” she stated pointedly, noting the contradiction in the fact that senior officials of the Railway Regulatory Authority (RAS) are facing felony charges while the minister himself is only being prosecuted for a misdemeanor, a direct result of the Parliamentary Committee of Inquiry’s findings.
Hatzikonstantinou also announced new legal action, this time directed at the members of the Parliamentary Committee of Inquiry who voted in favor of the report classifying the case as a simple breach of duty. “They knew perfectly well the gravity of the offenses and failed to reflect that in their findings. We are considering taking legal action against those members of parliament. This is not about political motives; it is about the fact that these families have been fighting for three years and feel like they are the ones on trial, rather than being treated as civil plaintiffs,” she concluded.
