Parliamentary Focus Key Opportunity to Deliver Accountability, Restore Public Trust
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(Athens) – The Greek parliament’s decision to investigate a possible coverup for a fatal train crash two years ago is an opportunity to address wider rule of law failings exposed by the disastrous state response to the tragedy, Human Rights Watch said today.
On March 4, 2025, following historic nationwide protests, the Greek Parliament established a preliminary inquiry committee to examine if then-Deputy Minister to the Prime Minister Christos Triantopoulos impeded the crash investigation with the alleged speedy disposal of debris and tampering with the crash site. The ongoing parliament debate about the tragedy on February 28, 2023, outside Tempi, in central Greece, including a no-confidence vote in the government, could be critical to help rebuild the public’s faith in Greece’s democratic institutions and ensure accountability for the crash.
“The pain and suffering caused by the Tempi crash are immense,” said Eva Cossé, senior researcher in the Europe and Central Asia division at Human Rights Watch. “Parliament should listen to the Greek people’s demands and take concrete steps to address the systemic failures that contributed to this tragedy and ensure accountability.”
The head-on collision between a passenger train and a cargo train killed 57 people, mostly young adults, and injured dozens more. A massive explosion following the crash, which caused many of the deaths, has raised concerns that the cargo train was carrying illegal flammable substances.
The public outcry for accountability has been unprecedented, culminating in mass protests across Greece, with demonstrations on February 28, 2025, potentially the largest in the country’s modern history. These ongoing protests reflect the deep public anger at the way the government and the judiciary have handled the tragedy and subsequent investigations, Human Rights Watch said.
The Greek authorities’ handling of the crash has sparked distrust and outrage among the public. The government sought to attribute the tragedy to human error alone and has rejected claims of corruption and systemic flaws in relation to government oversight in critical areas like rail management and safety protocols, while those responsible have not been held to account. A recent poll indicates that over 80 percent of Greeks doubt that the government has done everything possible to shed light on the tragedy, and a similar percentage expresses lack of faith in the justice system.
Investigations by the victims’ families and other investigative bodies determined that authorities removed debris from the site of the accident within hours of the crash, including victims’ remains that were discarded together with tons of dirt in a remote area. An independent report presented in February 2025 by the National Air and Rail Accident Investigation Authority confirmed that “[p]ressure from coordinators to restore the accident scene resulted in the loss of evidentiary material.” Victims’ families and the public have subsequently raised concerns about evidence tampering and the potential obstruction of justice.
In addition, the authorities removed the train carriages from the scene before a thorough investigation was conducted, denying accident investigators and experts appointed by the victims’ families the opportunity to locate crucial evidence in a timely manner at the site. Security footage from the station where the cargo train was loaded, has also vanished, triggering an investigation by prosecutors into the disappearance of the footage, two years after the facts.
Survivors and families of victims have accused the judicial investigative authorities of failing to conduct a thorough and impartial inquiry, including allegedly concealing crucial evidence. Judicial independence in Greece is open to criticism as high-level judicial officials are appointed by the government rather than by parliament or an independent judicial appointments body.
In November 2022, a few months before the crash, the European Public Prosecutor’s Office opened an investigation into potential misuse of EU funds connected to railway safety projects in Greece, including one known as Contract 717 dating from 2014. The project was supposed to modernize the Greek railway network’s remote-control and signaling systems, in part to avoid accidents like the one at Tempi. The European prosecutor’s investigation found that the project was “improperly executed.”
Evidence gathered by victims’ families and their experts, the National Rail Accident Authority report, and investigative media reports all confirmed the absence of operational safety systems at the time of the crash, something railway workers had also repeatedly warned about. In December 2023, the European Prosecutor’s Office in Athens brought charges against 23 suspects, including 18 public officials, for crimes relating to the execution of the contracts.
In June 2023, the European Prosecutor’s Office had also forwarded a request to the Greek Parliament to look into the possible criminal responsibility of two former transport ministers, Christos Spirtzis and Konstantinos Karamanlis, in relation to the implementation of Contract 717. A law on ministerial responsibility, requires parliamentary approval to initiate criminal proceedings against a minister.
The government, however, using its parliamentary majority, effectively blocked setting up an investigative committee in November 2023 and archived the case, frustrating the European prosecutors’ investigation.
The Greek government has faced increased scrutiny as the country faces serious challenges with respect to the rule of law more generally, including a major surveillance scandal, media freedom concerns, and attacks on civil society. In February 2024, the European Parliament adopted a resolution expressing “grave concerns about very serious threats to democracy, the rule of law and fundamental rights” in Greece, raising concerns specifically about the Tempi crash and subsequent investigations.
Members of parliament and the judiciary should ensure a transparent and impartial investigation into the Tempi train crash, free from political influence, Human Rights Watch said. The tragedy should also prompt fundamental rethinking about the separation of powers and judicial independence and ensure that parliament and the courts are able to hold ministers to account for gross failures in their duties.
“The victims of the Tempi crash and their families deserve justice,” Cossé said. “It’s the duty of parliament to restore faith in the rule of law by uncovering the truth, ensuring accountability, and preventing future tragedies.”
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출처: Human Rights Watch