Greece train disaster: Mitsotakis asks Supreme Court to investigate 'at the highest level'

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis asked in a letter to the Supreme Court prosecutor on Monday to give “priority” to the investigations relating to the train disaster in Greece and to assign them to the “highest level investigation” services

Greece train disaster: Mitsotakis asks Supreme Court to investigate 'at the highest level'

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis asked in a letter to the Supreme Court prosecutor on Monday to give “priority” to the investigations relating to the train disaster in Greece and to assign them to the “highest level investigation” services.

He said it was a separate investigation from that started by government-appointed "experts" after the crash that killed 57 people on February 28 in Tempe, Thessaly, central Greece.

Kyriakos Mitsotakis asked the prosecutor's office of the Supreme Court Isidoros Doyakos, "an immediate and thorough clarification of all criminal cases related to the tragic Tempé train accident".

"I ask you to give priority to these cases and assign them, if you deem it appropriate, to the highest level of investigation possible," said Kyriakos Mitsokais in this letter.

Kyriakos Mitsotakis asked the Supreme Court prosecution to assess the possible criminal nature of "systemic errors in the railway sector, including any delay in completing the required technological upgrade of the relevant infrastructure".

On Friday, by order of the Prime Minister, a special committee of experts was set up to "investigate and highlight the systemic problems and dysfunctions" that led to the rail tragedy.

The accident in Tempé was mainly attributed by the authorities to "human error".

On Sunday, in Larissa, the town closest to the scene of this accident, the station master was charged and remanded in custody for having made a fatal error in "the death of a large number of people", a crime punishable a sentence ranging from 10 years in prison to life imprisonment, according to the Greek penal code.

More than 12,000 demonstrators shouted their anger on Sunday in Athens against "the chronic failures" of the Greek rail network, accusing the governments of recent years of doing nothing to improve the network.

06/03/2023 11:24:07 - Athens (AFP) - © 2023 AFP