In brief
Families of victims from Greece's worst train disaster packed a courtroom on Wednesday, advocating for justice. The trial follows a horrific crash in February 2023 that resulted in the deaths of 57 individuals, many of whom were students. As court proceedings face delays and overcrowding, relatives are calling attention to a perceived lack of accountability and transparency surrounding the incident.
Relatives of the 57 people who died in Greece's worst ever train disaster crowded into a courtroom on Wednesday, demanding justice for the victims.
The trial had already been postponed once because of the chaotic start last week. Most of the victims of the crash three years ago were students, killed when their intercity service from Athens to Thessaloniki smashed head-on into a goods train on the same line near Tempi in the centre of the country. Some of the victims are thought to have burnt to death after surviving the initial collision.
Many relatives were unable to get into the courtroom in the central town of Larisa last week, and the situation was little different when it resumed on Wednesday. Police officers allowed in only participants who were legally scheduled to attend. Some relatives complained that two rows of seats had been taken up by police, while others said they still could not witness proceedings clearly enough.
Defence lawyer Zoe Konstantopoulou appealed for the proceedings to be filmed as access for families had been restricted. The February 2023 disaster is widely known in Greece as the Tempi crime - with many arguing it encapsulates negligence and corruption at the heart of the state. Thirty-six people are on trial in a case that is expected to hear from 350 witnesses and set to last years.
Among those killed was 20-year-old Anastasia Plakias, a student at the University of Thessaloniki. She, like so many other victims, was travelling back to lectures in the northern city after spending a public holiday with her family. Her grieving father, Dimitris, described the incident as a state assassination, asking in disbelief how such a tragedy could happen in a European country.
Thirty-three of the defendants face up to life in prison if convicted, and the trial includes a station master who failed to notice the two trains had been heading towards each other for 10 minutes. The Tempi disaster provoked widespread anger and protests across Greece, highlighting failings in the railway network and misuse of EU funding intended for safety improvements.
