Karystianou in Libération: “Our questions remain unanswered”

“Two years after the tragedy, we, the families of the victims and the survivors, have no real evidence to help us understand what happened. Our questions remain unanswered,” says Maria Karystianou in an interview with Libération.

Mar3, 2025

Speaking to journalist Fabien Perrier in an article titled “Greece: Two years after the Tempe tragedy, we no longer trust our country’s judicial system,” Karystianou condemns what she describes as systemic impunity for politicians in Greece. “In this country, justice and the government always protect politicians. No state crime has ever been brought to justice.”

She highlights what she calls serious failures in the investigation: “Both the families of the victims and the survivors are victims of this dysfunction. While children lost their lives in the disaster of February 28, 2023, the way in which the investigation was conducted was an absolute disaster. Firstly, the area where the accident took place was not secured by either the police or judicial authorities. It was even filled in. Secondly, much evidence was never delivered to the courts.”

Karystianou also reveals that critical evidence appears to have been withheld: “Even worse, a few days ago, the investigator informed us that crucial documents, such as the audio recordings and digital files seized by the Criminal Investigation Department on March 14–15, 2023, had actually been handed over to him two years ago but were not included in the case file. In other words, the evidence is being concealed by the investigators themselves! Consequently, they are accomplices of the perpetrators.”

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Given the way the case is unfolding, she expresses deep distrust in the Greek judiciary: “We have lost all trust in the Greek judicial system, which does not function. At the rate things are going, there will never be a fair trial. That is why we now want to take our case to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.”

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ThePressProject has prepared a series of slides summarising the key reasons behind the mass demonstrations in Greece. You can find our carousel “Why is Greece taking to the streets?” on our Instagram page for a quick breakdown of the Tempe case:

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