Pavlos Aslanidis, father of a Tempi train crash victim and vice-president of the Association of Relatives of Victims of Tempi, spoke about the ongoing fight for accountability ahead of the strike planned for Friday, February 28, and denounced party politics.
“I don’t want to discuss what politicians from all the parties are saying. We have 90% of Greeks supporting us,” Aslanidis told First Programme. “Anyway, all these people who will come, they will come in an unbiased way and put aside what [party] everyone is and come to support the struggle that has been going on for Tempi for two years,”
Anger over the tragedy, which claimed 57 lives, has intensified in recent months as new evidence has emerged. “We knew a lot last year, but we literally discovered a lot more on our own, the parents and relatives, especially those audio files that were hidden in the case file,” he stated. “ The conversations, that is, which were also covered up because where the voices were heard next door they were written unintelligibly. Our lawyers found them and gave them to the technical consultants and opened them. So, the new evidence is what inflamed the situation and what we have been saying for two years now that there has been a terrible cover-up from the first moment, from the first hours”
Aslanidis also stated he felt politicians were exploiting the tragedy. “Where was the opposition for two years? Where were they to come out and say all this? We discovered it ourselves. It goes without saying now that there is political exploitation and we are not interested in their clashes in Parliament, in what they do. We want the perpetrators to be brought to justice and put in custody. Is it possible that they are still in their jobs?”
He praised the few officials who pursued justice. “Only one prosecutor, Ms. Matsi, advanced the case properly and took it to Parliament. Only one police officer truly honored his uniform and oath.”
Aslanidis called for Friday’s rally to remain peaceful, emphasizing that it is both a memorial and a demand for justice. “It is a day of remembrance—everyone must respect that. There should be no disturbances. On the 26th, we demanded justice for Tempi, but also for broader change. To finally establish a rule of law with an independent judiciary. Because it is not possible for Greece, which established democracy and justice since ancient times, to have none of these things at the moment” he concluded.
