A landmark ruling on the Tempi crash was issued by the Athens Administrative Court of First Instance, recognizing for the first time the responsibility of the Greek State for the deadly railway accident of February 28, 2023.
The court awarded €400,000 in compensation to four relatives of a victim, ruling that the state causally contributed to the accident. According to the reasoning of the decision, the State—through the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport—had been aware “for a long time” of the dangerous and inadequate condition of the railway network, yet failed to exercise the required and effective supervision.
Furthermore, the ruling paves the way for similar claims by families of other victims as well as survivors of the Tempi disaster.
The court notes that this lack of oversight constitutes an “unlawful omission,” which contributed to the harmful outcome—one that could have been prevented.
In a statement, the family’s lawyer, Georgios Karapanos, emphasized that the decision is particularly significant, as “the search for accountability is not limited to individual persons, but extends to the very core of the functioning of the state mechanism,” and also because this development opens the way for new claims by relatives of victims and survivors of the crash.
Sources: Κathimerini, Εfimerida ton Sintakton
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