Tempi Missing Videos: Trust in Courts & Prosecutors Shatters

This is no longer only about what happened in Tempi. It is also about what was supposed to prove what happened — and isn’t there. When key CCTV disappears in a case with 57 dead, trust doesn’t “fade.” It shatters.

What the official investigation report says about CCTV

The EODASAAM investigation report records a blunt outcome regarding the freight train (63503): critical CCTV is missing — including the loading video in Thessaloniki and most of the route footage — and, after delays, mistakes, and mishandling, “not a single frame” from the official CCTV system is available for train 63503.

Read the EODASAAM report (PDF)

This is not a minor procedural issue. CCTV is the cleanest form of evidence: it shows timing, locations, access, and handling. When it’s gone, the truth becomes negotiable — and the public is left with suspicion instead of certainty.

A trial is underway — and one witness is missing from the witness box

A trial in Larissa focuses specifically on the “missing videos.” And this raises a basic question: how can a court examine missing/vanished video evidence without hearing from the key judicial official who was responsible for the core case file and the handling of investigative orders?

That is why victims’ relatives, including Maria Karystianou, have publicly called for the Appeals Investigating Magistrate, Sotiris Baikamis, to testify as a witness in the proceedings.

Reporting on the Larissa hearing and the request to call Baikamis (in.gr)

Why Baikamis must be heard — no slogans, just chain of custody

This is not about personalities. It is about the chain of custody and the timeline. Only the investigating magistrate can clarify, under oath and with documents:

What video evidence was ordered to be secured, from which exact locations, and on what dates.
What was officially delivered, by whom, and with what protocol/record.
When it became clear that loading footage and route footage were missing, and what immediate steps were taken.
Why delays occurred — and whether anyone was held accountable while the risk of overwriting was obvious.
How “wrong disks / wrong locations” ended up being delivered as if they were relevant.

If the court does not force clear answers on these points, the case becomes a lesson in how evidence can disappear in plain sight.

Justice is not the same thing as judges

We must separate the idea of Justice from the actions of judges and prosecutors. Justice is the principle: truth, equal rules, accountability. Judges and prosecutors are officials — and they are judged by whether they protect evidence and deliver truth, not by the authority of their titles. So we should not say “Justice decided” when what we mean is “an official decided.”

What transparency looks like (minimum demands)

Publish an inventory: which cameras existed, where, for what period, and what retention rules applied.
Publish chain-of-custody: who seized what, when, where it was stored, and who accessed it.
Explain every gap: missing hours/days, missing angles, “wrong disks,” incomplete deliveries.
Treat deletion/overwriting as a serious investigation point, not an administrative footnote.
Call key officials — including the investigating magistrate — to answer directly, under oath.

Until that happens, one conclusion remains unavoidable: if evidence can vanish in a case of this scale, any citizen can be left without protection. And trust in prosecutors and courts shatters.