(For international readers: Syntagma Square is Athens’s central civic space, directly facing the Hellenic Parliament.)

Karystianou said she would return to the square after the amendment’s passage. Whether names would be re-written on the pavement would be decided collectively by the parents, she added. She argued that the government’s aim is to erase the Tempe crime from collective memory. ‘What is very disturbing is the symbolism of the writing of the names. The fact that they are there, that people went and called them every 28th of the month, this is what was disturbing. This heinous crime against society must disappear from society’s memory. It must disappear from our thoughts and from our everyday lives. That is the goal.’ She linked this to the removal of the makeshift memorial with 51 nails at ground zero, saying the intent was to erase the memory of Tempe entirely.

Asked about the appellate investigator, Sotiris Bakaimis, Karystianou alleged that he had committed ‘all the offences of the criminal code’ and said she was certain the trial would be a fiasco. ‘All the people who know should be behind bars because this trial is a farce. We are going to a trial worse than the parody of the examinations and preliminary investigations. The politicians and the big businessmen who ate the money along with the politicians, as well as the Italian company, have been acquitted in practice. The three who are the main culprits for what happened in Tempe and for the poor operation of the railway are still out of the picture today,’ she said.

She added that specific political figures were involved from the outset. ‘We know them and the main thing is that the leader of the party is inside. Did Mr Mitsotakis not choose Mr Bakaimis, whose first move was to confiscate the videos and hide them? We are talking about a trial that will begin with evidence destroyed.’

Karystianou also referred to the prosecutorial leadership. ‘Explain to me why the prime minister of a country is asking Mr Dogiakos, while Mr Dogiakos was still in judicial school, what he should do. How did Mr Mitsotakis know him? This letter that was sent and has been made public is direct political interference in the work of justice. In what way was he asking for priority and upgrading of the trial, in what way did he judge it as a former judge?’ she said.

‘It is not just that,’ she continued. ‘Mr Bakaimis has committed all the offences of the criminal code. He has disappeared the videos, he has destroyed the biological material, he did not take into account prestigious scientists who spoke about flammable substances, he refused to conduct an investigation. Which investigator refuses to conduct an investigation, especially when he has the findings of professors in his hands? Why are the companies not involved, are they political figures? Why is Hellenic Train not involved, is it a political figure?’ she asked, expressing anger and disappointment.

Karystianou concluded that even the ‘bad law’ still requires investigations. ‘The law is bad, but this bad law stipulates that, yes, an investigation will be conducted. It does not say that an investigation will not be conducted for a crime involving a politician. A crime will be committed and Parliament will control it. We did not even conduct the investigation. Do we live in such a society where even the despicable article 86 that protects politicians will also abolish the investigation that stipulates the same? They even brought article 86 to their own measure,’ she said.
(Article 86 of the Greek Constitution regulates ministerial liability and has long been criticised for shielding politicians from prosecution.)

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