New legal developments have emerged in the case of the Tempi tragedy, as the Bozo and Kyriakidis families filed an official request to the Court of Appeal Investigator for upgrading the charges against former Transport Minister Konstantinos Karamanlis.
Tempi: Lawyer for two families requests charge upgrade from breach of duty to felony disruption of transportation
Angelos Bozo, son of victim Pavlini Bozo, appeared at the Supreme Court with Maria Chatzikonstantinou, lawyer for both families, to present support for the prosecution and request an upgrade of charges from breach of duty to felony disruption of transportation.
They brought with them a memorandum explaining in detail the reasons for their request, while submitting documents and evidence to the Special Court of Appeal Investigator.
Angelos traveled from Switzerland for just 2 hours to complete this procedure “for his father’s soul.” For her part, Ms. Chatzikonstantinou emphasized that they will pursue additional legal actions against those who voted so that the former Transport Minister K. Karamanlis faces only breach of duty charges.
Tempi: “I came from Switzerland for basic justice” – Victim’s son speaks outside Supreme Court
With intense emotional charge and widespread skepticism about the administration of justice, Angelos Bozo, son of a Tempi tragedy victim, appeared at the country’s highest court, demanding accountability from the former Transport Minister.
“I came from Switzerland sleepless, left my job to pursue Karamanlis for basic justice,” he declared outside the country’s supreme court, expressing his pessimism about the case’s outcome.
“I know that if I drive dangerously and hit someone, I’ll go to prison. Here, with what happened, with trains that were literally flying blind without any safety system, the minister is at home.
Unfortunately, the way things are going, I don’t see us finding justice, although I hope to be proven wrong,” he noted.
The lawyer for the Bozo and Kyriakidis families, Mary Chatzikonstantinou, explained the legal basis of today’s action, emphasizing that the goal is to assign actual felony responsibilities.
“The trains were blind and the ministry knew it,” she stated, highlighting that it’s paradoxical for railway officials to be prosecuted for felonies while the minister faces only misdemeanor charges due to the Parliamentary Investigative Committee’s decision.
“They knew very well the gravity of the crimes and didn’t assign them. Our intention is to take legal action against these MPs. It’s not about political motives, it’s about these families fighting for three years and feeling like defendants instead of civil plaintiffs,” she concluded.
