The will of the government to exhaust every possibility is a given, in order to render justice and to reach the end of the investigation of the case, with real attribution of responsibilities, the Minister of Justice emphasized on Tuesday Kostas Tsiaras, speaking at the plenary session of the Parliament on the occasion of the Tempe train accident. Noting that the government will do everything possible on its part to support and comfort the families of all the bereaved victims, the Minister of Justice recalled his own family tragedy, having lost his sister in a car accident in Tempe , and in fact very close to the scene of the train accident.

Commenting on the debate that is taking place “and which many times calls into question the institutions of Democracy and the State”, he said that “it does no one any good”. As he characteristically said, the Judiciary has been involved from the first moment for the tragic event, with the initiative of the prosecutor of the Supreme Court, with the assignment of the case to the experienced prosecutor, head of the Larissa Appeals Prosecutor’s Office and with a series of initiatives, which shows that the intention and effort is made in the direction of finding out any responsibility that can or should be attributed.

“Obviously, the accident is beyond our understanding and we cannot accept it. But the effort being made, not only by the prime minister and the government, but also by the executive judges, to have the resolve the case as quickly as possible, it must be recognized by everyone and preserved in the most appropriate way, in order to reach the end of the investigation”, emphasized Mr. Tsiaras.

On a more personal note, the Minister of Justice said that only those with lived experience can understand the unspeakable pain of families. I consider myself one of them, since my only sister lost her life in a car accident, several years ago, 500 m from the place of the railway accident, said Mr. Tsiaras. As he said, it is very difficult for anyone to understand the psychology, the pain, the despair of the families of all these young children. Time will help, but it creates obligations for us, in the state, not only towards the memory of the children or the pain of the parents, but towards our minimum obligation, such events, not only not to be repeated, but to be explained to the end”.

Concluding his intervention on the railway accident, Mr. Tsiaras said that the debate will intensify and create space, in order to express opinions, which often have no relation to reality, however, through rage and anger, which admittedly exists in a large part of society, will possibly find receptive ears. He emphasized, however, that “it is important for the country and society to remain upright, and to continue on the right path [..] The effort that must be made by all of us, in memory of the victims and respect for the families, who live in anger, pain and sadness, is to do our best, and to find out the reason and causes of the accident, and to make sure that we do everything possible so that it never happens again”.

Mr. Tsiara’s statement was made in the context of a debate in the plenary, of the bill entitled “Rearrangement of regions and decentralization of powers of the regular administrative courts, organization of the telematic meeting, conversion of transitional seats and establishment of telematic judicial offices – Other urgent arrangements of the Ministry of Justice”. The bill was accepted by the majority of ND MPs. SYRIZA MPs abstained, PASOK-Movement for Change declared “present”, while KKE, Hellenic Solution and MeRA25 voted “no”. The amendments were also accepted which provide – among other things – (1) that defined as inalienable and non-confiscatable, in the hands of the State or third parties, in derogation of the existing legislation, the funeral expenses of persons, who are buried at public expense, do not fall under any category of income and are not counted in the income limits for the payment of any social or welfare benefit (the aim is to timely cover the specific expense, i.e. the funeral expenses of the persons who are buried at public expense, without tax or other obstacles, in order to pay the minimum tribute to the categories of the persons defined in Law 409/1976 (A’ 209) and their families), and (2) that the table with the detailed results of the cross-examination of the candidates is also communicated to the Areio Pagos (it is intended to inform the Areio Ice for the result of the electoral process, as well as the timely announcement of the results thereof).