Tempi: First ruling on state liability – €400,000 compensation to victim’s relatives

Compensation amounting to approximately €400,000 was decided by the Athens Administrative Court of First Instance to four relatives of a victim of the deadly train crash in Tempi.

According to the family’s lawyer, this is the first court ruling that assigns responsibility to the Greek State for the tragedy.

“In the extensive reasoning of the decision, it is explicitly noted, among other things, that the Greek State, through the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport, although it had long been aware of the dangerous and wholly inadequate condition of the railway system, exercised deficient and ineffective supervision, thereby causally contributing, through this unlawful omission, to the harmful outcome, which could have been prevented,” the lawyer’s statement characteristically notes.

The lawyer’s statement:

On Friday, March 27, the Athens Administrative Court of First Instance issued a particularly significant ruling regarding the Tempi tragedy, recognizing for the first time the responsibility of the Greek State for the conditions that led to the deadly railway accident of February 28, 2023.

This decision is of particular importance, as it constitutes the first judicial ruling assigning responsibility to the Greek State for this tragic incident, confirming what we had all understood from the very beginning: that the Tempi tragedy was not an isolated or merely accidental event, but the result of criminal omissions and systemic failure in the operation and supervision of the railway network.

In the detailed reasoning of the decision, it is explicitly emphasized, among other things, that the Greek State, through the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport, although it had long been aware of the dangerous and entirely inadequate condition prevailing in the railway system, exercised deficient and ineffective supervision as it was obliged to do, thereby causally contributing, through this unlawful omission, to the damaging outcome, which could have been prevented.

This judicial development makes it clear that the search for responsibility is not limited to individual persons, but extends to the very core of the functioning of the state mechanism, thus paving the way for further judicial investigation into actual responsibilities and the delivery of substantive justice to the victims and their families.

The law firm “Georgios A. Karapanos & Associates” has stood by the victims and their families from the very beginning and will continue consistently its efforts to secure justice in memory of the victims.