The train driver and the former director of Traffic Safety at Adif sit as of today on the defendants’ bench in a process that is expected to be extremely complex
The trial for the most serious rail accident in democracy starts this Wednesday in Santiago. It will be determined who is responsible for the derailment in Angrois of the Alvia train just over nine years ago, which caused 80 deaths and 145 injuries. And although the order proposing the opening of the trial was issued in April, Until this Tuesday, resources and reports continued to arriveeven though they are theoretically out of date.
There are dozens, with hundreds of pages, that were presented in the last dates before the Criminal Court number 2 of Santiago, whose head, Elena Fernández Currás, will begin this Wednesday to attend to the previous questions formulated by the lawyers who, in this case and due to the magnitude of the cause, they will be numerous.
More than a hundred lawyers
In fact, there are altogether 446 people affected they claim, which are grouped into 154 accusations, assisted by 110 lawyers and represented by 47 prosecutors. In addition, there are 53 injured parties who are not represented by a lawyer and attorney, so the accusation will be carried out by the Public Prosecutor’s Office. With this volume of parties involved it became impossible for a trial to be held in the courts of Santiago in which each of the lawyers has the right to attend the hearing in person, so it will be held in the Cidade da Cultura.
Given these numbers, the Superior Prosecutor’s Office of Galicia maintains that the Alvia trial “It is unprecedented due to its complexity and the number of witnesses and experts cited & rdquor;almost 700.
defendants
Two people will sit on the bench: the driver, Francisco Garzonand the former Director of Traffic Safety at Adif, Andres Cortabitarte. The prosecutor asks for them sentences of four years in prison.
The court will have to decide whether they are both at fault, just one of them, or neither. In the case of the train driver, in addition to the supposed responsibility qualified by the Prosecutor’s Office, the strategy of the Administration, including Adif, maintains that the accident was due to a human error de Garzón, who got confused when taking a phone call from the inspector when the train was arriving in Santiago and did not stop in time, so the Alvia entered the Angrois curve at 180 kilometers per hour when it should be at 80, causing it to derail.
Adif
Precisely, last month Adif presented a video montage to blame the driverin which the arrival –from the driver’s seat– of another train is shown with Garzón’s telephone conversation in the background and superimposing with comments the maneuvers made by the driver and those that, according to Adif, he would have to do but not executed.
The driver’s defense will request, precisely, in the previous questions that the video not be accepted as evidence, on understanding that the Ourense-Santiago line did not have risk analysis or systems to prevent such an event from occurringYo.
The prosecutor accused Cortabitarte for not evaluating this risk or managing it to reduce the danger.
However, Adif –the body that manages the railway infrastructures in Spain– believes that he bears no responsibility for the accident and that it is the driver’s fault. In this strategy, while the Renfe insurer has already paid part of the compensation to the victims, Adif has not taken any step in that direction.
An exceptional viewing room
The dimensions of the case have forced exceptional measures to be taken to hold the trial, resorting to the facilities of the Cidade da Cultura (Santiago). The image shows the hearing room, of unusual size because it is necessary to make room for a hundred lawyers, in addition to leaving a space (in the back) for the public. The first three days, today, tomorrow and the day after, are reserved for preliminary questions and statements by the accused, but there are another four days reserved in case they are insufficient.