Justice Minister Giorgos Floridis, speaking on the show “Good Morning Greece” on Wednesday morning (1/4), emphasized that the trial for the tragedy at Tempi will begin normally. Regarding the request from victims’ relatives to have at least one of them present in the main courtroom, Mr. Floridis explained that according to the court president’s decision, 250 lawyers will be in the main hall.
This is due to the fact that these are the first days of the legitimization process, during which the names of litigants and their lawyers are announced, before the evidentiary procedure with witnesses begins. As he added, at least 100 relatives of the victims will be able to be in the main area of the courtroom to be legitimized. “Based on the court president’s published decision, the 250 lawyers will enter the main courtroom, and because this is a legitimization procedure – meaning the litigant’s name is announced who declares their lawyer’s name and then proceeds to the next one. We are not at the stage where witnesses are examined, the evidentiary procedure. These are the first days of legitimizations. And based on the president’s decision, at least 100 of the relatives who are to be legitimized will be in the main courtroom area.”
Giorgos Floridis on Tempi: “These three years saw significant efforts to facilitate this trial”
Additionally, the minister emphasized that this space is the only one in Europe where the trial can be conducted, and the government made all necessary procedures to start the trial faster.
“In all these three years, significant efforts were made to facilitate this trial, to finally begin. The main intervention we made in the case file was the removal of judicial councils, which means we gained at least a year, and second, we created a space that, according to the prime minister’s post, is the only space in Europe where this trial can be conducted. And this space was created in time.”
