The prosecution of Christos Triandopoulos for the offence of misconduct in office has been decided by the Parliament after a fierce confrontation of political expediency between the majority and the opposition.

In favor of the referral of the former deputy minister to the Judicial Council voted in the end 190 deputies from ND and PASOK, Course of Freedom voted against it, while SYRIZA, KKE, Hellenic Solution, New Left and Niki withdrew from the process.

During the almost ten-hour discussion of the report, the representatives of the parliamentary parties engaged in a tirade of counter-arguments that culminated when Zoe Konstantopoulou claimed that the members of the New Democracy party “killed” the 57 victims of the tragedy and Makarios Lazaridis replied that “in the morning you go on the channels as a mourner and at night you dance like a party animal to Zouganeli.”

Next steps

Given the decision of the Plenary to prosecute Mr. Triandopoulos, the next constitutional steps foresee a new public session of the parliament , which will most likely take place after the Easter holidays, during which the President of the Parliament Nikitas Kaklamanis will draw the five full and three alternate members for the formation of the Judicial Council. The Judicial Council is composed of three members of the Supreme Court and two members of the Council of State and is chaired by the highest ranking member of the Supreme Court or, among peers, the most senior member of the Supreme Court. At the same meeting, the acting prosecutor of the Council and his deputy shall be called by the members of the Prosecutor’s Office of the Supreme Court.

The senior judicial officials will proceed to a main interrogation with the possibility of examining witnesses and evidence, while if they find evidence that requires the expansion of the indictment with new offences against Mr. Triandopoulos or with the addition of other ministers involved, then they will immediately send the relevant request to the Parliament. At the same time, they will also examine possible requests for the invalidity of the procedure followed by the preliminary inquiry of the Parliament and if their judgment agrees with the objections raised by the opposition parties, they will return the case to the Parliament to resume the procedure in compliance with the constitutional provisions.