The trial over the 2023 Tempe railway disaster, in which 57 people were killed, has been adjourned until September 7 after prosecutors formally presented the charges against the 36 defendants.
When proceedings resume after the summer recess, the court is expected to begin hearing evidence, starting with prosecution witnesses, including relatives of passenger train driver Giorgos Koutsoubas, who was among those killed in the collision.
According to the indictment, a central element of the prosecution’s case is that the defendants were aware of serious deficiencies in the safety systems on the Larissa-Neoi Pori section of the railway. Prosecutors allege they knew that the signaling, remote-control and automatic train protection (ETCS) systems had been out of operation since 2019, while the GSM-R railway radio communication system had been functioning only partially since 2018.
Thirty-three of the defendants face felony charges of disrupting rail safety, an offense carrying a potential life sentence. They also face charges including involuntary manslaughter and causing bodily harm through negligence.
