“If the nonsense had not been done from the beginning by Mr Triantopoulos, we would already have the evidence and the trial would have begun,” she said, referring to the former minister to the prime minister, Christos Triantopoulos.
Following the decision to approve exhumations and new tests, granted after 23 days of Panos Routsis’s hunger strike, Karystianou outlined the families’ next steps: “After 23 days, the green light was given to do what should have been done from the start. Our goal now is to find specialised laboratories and forensic doctors who can carry out the tests that will finally give us answers. The process is more difficult now; two and a half years have passed.”
She added:
“We have no trust in the Greek authorities. Will someone wrong us for this? We want to bring in our own scientists from abroad, and the results will be sent to laboratories overseas. We have repeatedly requested exhumations because we had unanswered questions. The forensic doctors should have told us both the circumstances and the cause of death.”
Karystianou criticised the authorities for misleading families about the victims’ final moments: “Until the audio recordings came out, they told us everyone died instantly. Then we learned that many were alive and died from the fire. Yet they kept rejecting our requests for exhumation and toxicological tests, while illegally destroying the biological samples just 40 days after the crash, before the forensic reports were even issued.”
She questioned the purpose of the upcoming proceedings: “What can we expect from this trial? We are preparing to go to court without a culprit, without an investigation into the explosion. Our people were burned alive—what are we to expect? Karamanlis, who was left out of the picture? Ministers coming to tell us about misdemeanours? We have low expectations.”
Karystianou also reiterated that the victims did not die solely from the collision: “They could not breathe. There are serious indications that people were gasping for air and burning internally. Even rescuers and forensic doctors reported chemical burns from silicone oil. We have indications there were chemicals. Yet, despite this, they decided there would be no autopsy or toxicological testing. Nothing was done.”
Expressing frustration at what she called a “truncated interrogation” and an attempt to “fudge” the investigation, Karystianou concluded: “If Mr Triantopoulos had not been bluffing from the beginning, we would already have the evidence and the trial would have begun. It will not be a trial, but a parody.”
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