A prosecutor in Larissa ordered on Friday the exhumation of the son Panos Ruci as the father of 23-year-old Dennis entered the 12th day on hunger strike. The young man was among the 57 people who were killed at the tragedy of the train crash in Tempi in February 2023.
However, the prosecutor accepted only Ruci’s request for a DNA test for the identification of the young man’s remains and rejected the request for toxicological tests aiming to determine the exact cause of his death; that is whether Dennis died due to fatal injuries sustained during the crash or he was burned alive due to substances the cargo train was illegally transporting.
Upon hearing the prosecutor’s decision, Panos Ruci said he is rejecting the proposal and he insists on the toxicological tests,
The prosecutor announced also that the exhumation requests submitted by three more families of other victims will be examined in the following days and instructed police to review similar requests.
This is certainly an interesting development on the issue as government officials incl. the Justice Minister and high-ranking judicial authorities have been claiming that Panos Ruci had either “did not submit a request” or that “requests were submitted to non-competent authorities” or “exhumation was not possible” or that such a request was unacceptable.” And all these name-as-you-wish series of controversial and non-existing statements within just a couple of days of this week. It is worth noting that also government-affiliated media joined the chorus of argumentative nonsense.
On Thursday, Justice Minister Giorgos Floridis hinted that exhumation for identification purpose was possible and today came the prosecutor’s decision..
Also on Thursday, a petition was signed by dozens of victims’ relatives seeking additional exhumations and tougher charges against Hellenic Train officials. Families argue that the case amounts to “homicide with possible intent” rather than negligence with the first one being felony and the second a misdemeanor.
picture Sept 26 via @lolosmarios
Panos Ruci said that he will continue his hunger strike.”I’m disappointed by this decision, it is not what exactly I want. I don’t want the identification only. I want toxicological tests to examine and determine the causes of the my son’s death,” he said. Earlier today he visited a public hospital to have his state of health checked.
Christos Konstantinidis, father of another victim, reportedly said today that he will join Ruci and start a hunger strike on Sunday. He has also submitted an exhumation request together with Maria Karystianou and Pavlos Aslanidis, parents of two more victims
Check HERE on KTG why the government rejects toxicological tests on Tempi victims.
