The trial of Helios Executive Chairman Andreas Drakos, Helios company as a legal person, Helios Managing Advisor Demetris Pantazis, Director of Flight Operations George Kikkides and Helios head pilot Yiangos Stoymenov, has been set for September 17.
An Helios aircraft, heading to Prague via Athens, crashed on the mountain of Grammatiko, north of the Greek capital, killing all 121 passengers and crew on board. After a pain-staking investigation, and reports by two commissions of inquiry, the Law Office of the Republic decided to bring before the court five persons, charged with a total of 1.190 charges, each facing 238 charges, including manslaughter, negligence to perform their duty to ensure the safety of the flight.
They also face charges of negligence to prevent or act in a way that would have stopped the aircraft to be flown by “inadequate or inappropriate” head crew (captain and co-captain), noting that the accused should have known about the inadequacy of these two persons.
Speaking on Thursday after the decision to refer the trial to the Criminal Court, Chairman of the Committee of Relatives of the Victims Nicholas Yiasoumis said that this was a positive development, which they had anticipated.
“We hope that justice will be done,” he added.
Judge Stavros Stavrou said there was enough evidence to refer the defendants to a direct trial before the Criminal Court.
Financial Mirror, June 05, 2009
