Parents of Tempe victims call for ministerial immunity to be lifted
The parents of victims of the 2023 Tempe railway disaster have filed a request in Parliament calling for the immunity from prosecution of two former transport ministers to be lifted.
Maria Karystianou and Pavlos Aslanidis, whose children were among the 57 victims of the deadly collision, called for former New Democracy minister and sitting MP Kostas Karamanlis and former SYRIZA minister Christos Spirtzis to be investigated over potential criminal liabilities.
Their application is based on the conclusion of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office investigation into the uncompleted contract for the signaling and telecontrol system on the railway and on the legal argument that EU law prevails over the Greek Constitution.
EPPO’s probe found indications of breach of duty and misappropriation of funds on the part of Spirtzis and Karamanlis, who served as the ministers of transport under different governments from 2016 and until the crash, and were ultimately responsible for ensuring that the contract was implemented.
A man injured in the Tempe train crash has also sued Karamanlis, adding to an already heavy dossier of charges.
The findings of a parliamentary committee investigating the case, which ended in each of the seven parliamentary parties drafting its own report, will be discussed in a plenary session Wednesday, and the Karamanlis file, submitted by judicial authorities to Parliament because the charges are against an officeholder, is certain to feature prominently in what is shaping up to be an acrimonious debate.
The lawsuit against Karamanlis alleges manslaughter with likely intent, compromising the safety of transport, resulting in grievous bodily harm and the harm itself.
But a law on “ministerial responsibility,” based on Article 86 of the Constitution, makes a prosecution very unlikely. Ostensibly designed to protect officeholders from constant and frivolous litigation, the law effectively shields them from more serious charges.
The families of the victims request that immunity not be applied in this case.
