Justice Minister Giorgos Floridis and New Democracy parliamentary spokesman Dimitris Kairidis targeted the leader of Course of Freedom party over the Tempi rail tragedy case file. Floridis accused the president of Course of Freedom of attempting to politically profit from a national tragedy, saying she “saw an opportunity with the debris, the lost passengers and the destroyed train cars,” with the main goal of never allowing the case file to close and keeping it open “with endless schemes.”
According to Floridis, Justice did exemplary work, the investigation has closed and now the State will deliver justice for Tempi. “Now we have the new novel about the Tempi case file, you told us about the disappearance of the investigator. Then you complained that it was the police who guarded the case file. Who should have guarded it, the neighborhood cheese merchant? Yesterday I spoke about Nephilim, I was wrong – the Elohim did it…,” he said characteristically, while later accusing the president of Course of Freedom of constantly inventing issues to continue the political exploitation of the tragedy.
“Your crowning moment will be to sue yourself, win the case and demand compensation in order to give it to the victims of the rapists you defended…,” he commented sarcastically, adding that “you can’t fool many people for a long time,” as “the people return the price to those who misled them.”
Floridis’ attack on Konstantopoulou came in response to the constitutional objection she submitted regarding the disputed articles of the Floridis bill (yesterday the corresponding SYRIZA objection was rejected regarding the provision for limited access to case files for defendants and lawyers when national security issues or witness protection are involved), with the Justice Minister stating, in response to related opposition comments, that the provision for limited access to case files will not apply to the Tempi case since the investigation has already closed.
Beyond Giorgos Floridis, New Democracy parliamentary spokesman Dimitris Kairidis also launched an attack on Zoe Konstantopoulou. “My father died in 2018 having suffered from dementia, and tormenting both my mother and us. You don’t suffer from dementia, but neither do we!” he emphasized, speaking of Zoe Konstantopoulou’s desperate attempt to connect all issues with Tempi aimed at her party’s polling recovery.
“The Tempi investigation is finished and instead of congratulating the judicial official who referred it, you want the case open so you can speculate and profit politically, possibly not just politically. Is there no trace of shame in you? You shamelessly stain judges, you parade them publicly, why? Because you’re falling in the polls. To go from 8% to 10%?” he asked her.
Referring to the constitutional objection submitted by Zoe Konstantopoulou, he said: “Who are you fooling in here? Do you think we’re idiots here? You degrade Parliament in the most vulgar way. The objection was rejected yesterday. Whose lawyer are you? The defendant’s? Are you with the victims or the perpetrators? Who are you with finally and we’re discussing pretextual constitutional objections? You care about the defendants, not the parents, the relatives, the people! Everything you built over two years has collapsed,” he said.
Earlier, Zoe Konstantopoulou had insisted that the government “went to hastily close the Tempi case file.” The constitutional objection was supported by the opposition, though PASOK only partially, clarifying that it does not identify a constitutional issue with article 19 regarding the inclusion of violence against judges offenses under the jurisdiction of the Three-Member Misdemeanor Court. It should be noted that during the discussion, SYRIZA parliamentary spokesman Christos Giannoulis also referred to Antonis Samaras’ morning intervention.
“Is Samaras playing political games? Does the intervention of a man who lost his child a few weeks ago fall into your categories of attempting to gain political benefit, Mr. Floridis?” he wondered. For his part, Dimitris Tzanakopoulos said that “it is a parent’s right to know if his child is in the coffin,” and added that the former prime minister did not make this intervention by chance.
