On Saturday, July 24, eight years of the Alvia train accident that derailed in Angrois, in 2013, on the outskirts of Santiago de Compostela, and left 80 dead and 145 injured.
At the gates of this eighth anniversary, the court who instructs the open judicial cause to clarify what has just been decreed to open the opening of oral trial, approaching the celebration of sight, which will be held predibly in the first quarter of 2022.
The Auto of Judge Instructor, Andrés Lake Louro, concludes that the train machinist, Francisco José Garzón Amo, and the Director of Security in the Circulation of Adif at the time of Line, Andrés
Count
The holder of the statement of Instruction Number 3 of Santiago has given the accusations against both for some facts that could be constitutive of 80 crimes of homicide by serious professional imprudence, 145 of injury due to serious professional imprudence and a crime of damage.
The prosecution requests for each one of them four years of prison and disqualification for the profession they exercised at the time of the accident.
Thus, asks that the machinist be disabled for the profession of him during the time of the sentence and the former head of security in the Circulation of Adif the same time of disqualification for the exercise of any profession that implies management, security or responsibility in infrastructures
Railway
Judge Lago Louro has required the two investigated and their insurers – QBE Insurance (Europe) LTD and Allianz Global Corporate (as direct civilians) – and to the public entities Renfe Operator and Adif, considered subsidiary civilians, to provide a bail
of 57,686,635 euros in order to ensure the pecuniary responsibilities that could be imposed on the judgment.
In addition, the AUTO OF THE JUDGE INSTRUCTOR LES APERCIBE that, in case they do not record that millionaire, they will be seized as enough quantity to ensure that sum.
The trial will be held in the Court of the Criminal Number 2 of Santiago and physically, it will be necessary to enable facilities that allow us to host an unprecedented procedure in Galicia for the number of parties in the case and witnesses who must appear, as only victims already
There are 145 that were injured and relatives of another 80 who died in the Angrois tracks.
Presecibly, a room of the Cidade da Cultura de Galicia will be adapted.
The prosecutor maintains that the machinist circulated at 199 km / h in a segment near a dangerous curve, that of A Grandeira, when he served a corporate mobile phone call, which does not have a hands-free system, made
By the auditor, speaking for 100 seconds.
When responding, “he omitted the minimum attention of his professional duties” and at that time he broke “the minimum rules of attention and professionals who are demandable.”
When he finally reacted, he managed to reduce the speed at 179.38 km / h, but was insufficient to prevent the train from derrilding.
The accusation adds that “the tragic accident would not have happened” if the other defendant, Andrés Cortabitarte, “I would have evaluated and managed the risk of excess speed in the accident stretch.”
The accused “infringed the duty that he held by his status within Adif”, then, “he had a duty to manage and mitigate the risks due to speed not covered by the line protection system and train”;
“He had to guarantee that the line was safe,” but “it was not.”
The imminent celebration of the trial will be very present at the anniversary of the accident, which the victims will commemorate one more year with a demonstration between the train station of Santiago and the Praza do Obradoiro to claim an independent technical investigation on the causes of the loss,
A major than the penalty officer was carried out, since he carried out by the Railway Accident Research Commission (CIAF) only includes the responsibility of the machinist and, in addition, has been questioned by his lack of independence by the European authorities.
The victim platform of Alvia has also organized for this eighth anniversary the habitual mass in memory of the deceased, which will be at 6:00 p.m. in the Church of SAR and at 7:30 p.m. the tragic accident with an act of concentration and tribute in
The neighborhood of Angrois, in the same place where the train derailed eight years ago.
The platform of victims of the accident reaches this anniversary with “indignation” for the appointment of the current president of Adif, Isabel Pardo de Vera, as a new secretary of State of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda, as they consider it “an authentic mockery
“And” a lack of respect for the memory of the deceased, to their families, to all the victims of the accident and all the citizens. ”
They show their rejection for the attitude of Pardo de Vera, with which they maintained a meeting in June 2019 to move their petitions and did not attend any.
As a maximum responsible for Adif argue that “I was in your hands to investigate, debug responsibilities and reach the back of the truth” and “however, he opted for the easiest and unworthy way.”