The trial of the Tempi train crash continues tomorrow, Tuesday, in GAIOPOLIS, with the objections of defence lawyers for the defendants as to the statements of the performances in support of the prosecution.

The trial was tense, which culminated when Zoe Konstantopoulou said that there was no “chipa” to the defence lawyers, provoking strong reactions from her colleagues. In the midst of the tension, the President of the Trial Chamber also emerged at one point, shouting: “Mercy. I’m such a calm person, this is the first time I’m facing this”

Today the Greek State through its representative from the Legal Council of the State declared a plea for moral damages against the stationmaster of the evening shift at the Larissa Railway Station, his two colleagues on the evening shift and the then head of the Larissa Inspection Department of the Central and Southern Greece Traffic Support Service.

After the statements were completed, the defence side of the defendants asked for a deadline in order to take note of and study the legal documents so that they could submit objections.

Tension ensued between the counsel over the timing of the deadline as the defendants’ counsel stressed to the president that they did not have time until tomorrow’s scheduled hearing to prepare their objections. Eventually the court adjourned for tomorrow and, as the presiding judge said earlier, the next trial date will be set for a long time because arrangements will be made in the courtroom.

Earlier, before the legalization proceedings began, Nikos Konstantopoulos and Zoe Konstantopoulou, both advocates for victims’ relatives, said that the conditions for a fair trial were not met, while the advocate for the multi-injured man Loukas Apostolidis told the court that police officers should be removed from the seats reserved for the accused. Today in court the defendants present were 6 out of a total of 36.

We recall that the defendants are executives and employees of OSE of ERGOSE, the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure, Hellenic Train and the Railway Regulatory Authority. The 33 of them are charged with the felony of dangerous interference with fixed rail transport with possible malice, with acts dangerous to the safety of transport, from which common danger to foreign objects and danger to people could result and which resulted in: a) the death of a large number of people, b) the serious bodily injury of more people and c) significant damage to public utility installations, committed both repeatedly and jointly. The 35 are also charged with the misdemeanours of manslaughter by negligence by a person liable for the offence, grievous bodily harm by negligence by a person liable for the offence, simple bodily harm by negligence by a person liable for the offence, while three OSE officials are also charged with the misdemeanour of dereliction of duty.

It should be noted that the representation of the Greek state for moral damage consists, as the representative of the State Legal Council said, in the insult of the citizens’ trust in state institutions and in the serious devaluation of the administrative and supervisory function of the railway system. In addition, the attributed act results in a serious violation of the legal good of the safety of public transport. The representation is for the act of disturbing the safety of public transport.