Mitsotakis: Statute of Limitations on Ministers’ Liability Law to be Axed

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Tuesday took a “que” from a recently resigned minister to announce that his government will soon submit draft legislation abolishing the statute of limitations for offenses covered under the law on ministers’ liability.

Mitsotakis, taking to his FB page, said the initiative will be included in the next draft bill to be submitted to Parliament by the justice ministry.

The Greek prime minister’s statement came shortly after Christos Triantopoulos, deputy elected from Mitsotakis’ center-right New Democracy (ND) party, requested that he face a regular judicial process in the case involving the partial covering over of a tract of land directly next to where two trains crashed into each other on the ill-fated evening of Feb. 28, 2023 – now known as the deadly Tempi rail collision.

In a letter directed to the Parliament president, Triantopoulos, who resigned as a deputy minister earlier this month, calls on his fellow MPs to immediately file a misdemeanor dereliction of duty charge against him and refer the case to the courts.

“All of the opposition is already sure of Christos Triantopoulos’ alleged guilt, as well as a supposed ‘coverup’. Therefore, all of the political wings in Parliament are now before their responsibilities: Will they approve of the minister’s initiative?” Mitsotakis wrote.

Triantopoulos, who is elected from Magnesia prefecture in central Greece, has faced sharp criticism by the political opposition and a portion of the media for allegedly ordering that one side of the railroad tracks where the two trains collided be leveled off and covered with gravel in the immediate aftermath of the rail crash. He served as deputy minister to the prime minister at the time of the disaster, with his portfolio including recovery from natural disasters. This month he resigned deputy minister of climate crisis and civil protection.

If his request is accepted, he would bypass hearings by a recently established Parliamentary committee of inquiry into the “soil coverup”, which commence on Thursday.

Critics of the earthwork manipulation claim that crucial evidence was lost in the aftermath of the collision, which claimed the lives of 58 people.

One scenario circulated by opposition parties, and then exponentially repeated and scrutinized on social media and the press, is that one of the two trains carried a contraband cargo of flammable liquid, ostensibly solvents. The idea of such a cargo – on the southbound freight train – igniting from the devastating collision is employed to explain the eruption of a fireball and the subsequent conflagration of two carriages on the north-bound passenger train. The fireball was seen in a few seconds of grainy footage from the collision.

The Tempi disaster has remained a sore point in public opinion in the country two years on, spawning massive protests around the country late last month in demand for a full and independent investigation and punishment of the guilty.

In his comments on Tuesday, Mitsotakis called on the opposition parties in Parliament to acquiesce to Triantopoulos’ request and send the case to the justice system and possibly to a court’s dock.

The request will be discussed at the Parliament committee’s session on Thursday, with members needing to vote on whether it will be accepted, something that is more-or-less assured, as ruling New Democracy (ND) retains a majority of deputies on the specific committee. A fast-track procedure would follow to conceivably convey the case before a special court. The final approval to refer Triantopoulos to the justice system would necessitate a new vote by the Parliament’s plenum, meaning at least 151 deputies out of the 300 voting in favor.

Only the alleged misdemeanor offense is under the investigation of the Parliamentary committee, as per the motion submitted by main opposition PASOK party this month, and which approved by a vast majority of MPs.

Source: tovima.com