Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis sent a letter to the Prosecutor of the Supreme Court, Isidoros Dogiakos, on Monday urging him for a immediate and in-depth clarification regarding the deadly train collision in Tempi.

In his letter, the Prime Minister stated that “it is a reasonable and fair request of Greek society that there be an immediate and in-depth clarification of all criminal cases related to the tragic train accident in Tempi.”

He requested “on behalf of the government, the prioritization of the relevant cases and the assigning them, if you deem it so, to the highest investigative level.”

The prime minister also noted that “especially in relation to the criminal assessment of systemic errors in the railway sector, including the possible delay in completing the required technological upgrade of the relevant infrastructure, please, proceed regardless of the progress of the work of the expert committee that has been appointed to evaluate these from an administrative and technical point of view”.

Mitsotakis, concluded in the letter to prosecutor Dogiakos, that “upon completion of the committee, its conclusion will of course be communicated to the prosecuting authorities conducting the investigation so that it becomes part of the case file.”

The letter arise two questions:

  • Has Justice problems to proceed with investigatins if there is no highest political intervention?
  • Isn’t it political intervention into the works of Justice?

The honorary president of the Supreme Court, Vasiliki Thanou who served as the first female prime minister of Greece in the caretaker government of 2015, criticized Mitsotakis ‘suggestions” as violating the Constitution and the separation of powers.

“A suggestion from the chairman of the executive power of the prime minister to the prosecutor of the Supreme Court, to assign an investigator – appellant and to continue the criminal investigation alongside the investigation of the commission appointed by the government Experts, whose conclusion will become part of the case file, is a violation of the Constitutional Authority of the separation of powers,” Thanou has reportedly said.

“Judicial authorities must carry out the actions required by law, regardless of prompts and suggestions by anyone,” she stressed.