ATHENS, Sept. 29 (Xinhua) -- Greece's Judicial Council on Tuesday referred former Deputy Minister for Climate Crisis and Civil Protection Christos Triantopoulos to the Special Court for ministerial responsibility over the handling of the site of the 2023 Tempi rail disaster.
The council accepted a recommendation by Supreme Court deputy prosecutor Dimitris Mitroulias and referred Triantopoulos on a misdemeanor charge of breach of duty, Greek national news agency AMNA reported. The case concerns alleged alterations to the crash site and the removal of materials from the scene following the collision.
Four other officials have also been referred to the Special Court on the same charge, including Kostas Agorastos, then governor of the Thessaly region; Vasilis Papageorgiou, former secretary-general for Civil Protection; Agapios Charakopoulos, then Larissa police director responsible for the incident site; and Evangelos Falasras, then regional commander of the Fire Service in Thessaly.
Triantopoulos, a lawmaker from the ruling New Democracy party, has denied the charge and said in a statement that he would challenge it before the Special Court.
Under the Greek Constitution, the Special Court for ministerial responsibility handles cases involving alleged criminal offenses committed by ministers and other senior officials in the performance of their duties.
The Tempi rail disaster in February 2023 killed 57 people when a passenger train traveling from Athens to Thessaloniki collided head-on with a freight train in central Greece. The crash prompted investigations into railway safety and the handling of the crash site.
Separately, a criminal trial over the disaster is underway in Larissa, with 36 defendants facing charges. They include officials and employees from organizations across Greece's railway sector, Transport Ministry officials, and the stationmaster who was on duty on the night of the crash. ■
