Santiago de Compostela (EFE).- The Alvia trial has taken an unexpected turn this Tuesday with the withdrawal by the Public Prosecutor’s Office of the accusation against Andrés Cortabitarte, former Adif traffic director at the time of the Angrois accident in 2013, in which 80 people died and another 145 were injured.
During the phase of reading the conclusions of the parties, the prosecutor Mario Piñeiro has decided to modify his letter and exclude the former head of Adif from responsibilities; while he has maintained them with respect to the other defendant, the machinist Francisco Garzón, for whom the Prosecutor’s Office requests four years in prison for 80 crimes of homicide due to serious professional negligence and 144 injuries.
Piñeiro has withdrawn the conclusion in which it was stated that the tragic accident would not have happened if Adif and the Traffic Safety Directorate at that time “had evaluated and managed the risk of speeding” in the section of the accident.
According to the prosecutor, the defendant Andrés Cortabitarte, in the exercise of his functions, “did not infringe the duty he held as head of the service and acted in accordance with the procedures included in the management system approved by the national security authority.”
In addition, it has indicated that the line “was designed and executed in accordance with the technical standards of each subsystem” and that the corresponding “risk analysis that requires the evaluation of a security dossier” was carried out.
Assumes the State Attorney’s account
The prosecutor also assumes the account of the State Attorney’s Office and has affirmed in its modifications that “on other lines it circulates at 200 kilometers per hour with the Asfa system” and that “the significant change in speed was not identified as a risk factor with prior to the accident.
The modification of these conclusions by Piñeiro, who also withdraws the accusation against Allianz, Adif’s insurer, takes place after eight months of trial, in which they have tried to determine both criminal and civil responsibilities for the accident.
Dozens of witnesses have passed through the trial, including victims and relatives of victims of the incident, as well as experts and experts, who have expressed themselves in very different ways when determining what happened.
Surprise for the victims
From the Platform of Victims of Alvia 04155 and by almost all the popular accusations, the accusation against Cortabitarte of four years in prison has been maintained, the same as for Garzón.
However, since the defense of the Victims Platform they have raised the demand for disqualification for Cortabitarte to six.
Already at the entrance of the hearing, the lawyer Manuel Alonso confirmed to the press that they would not change his request for imprisonment for both defendants, although he indicated that he hoped that in this process of conclusions they would be maintained by all the accusations, something that in the end was not has occurred.
For Alonso, the process has been, in summary, “quite favorable” for the interests of the victims, since the evidence “has been much more forceful than in the investigation phase” and everything is “corroborated” in his brief of conclusions .
In this phase of the trial, it is necessary for all the parties involved in a complex process to attend again, which accumulates more than 50,000 double-sided pages and is directed by the head of Criminal Court number 2 of Santiago, María Elena Fernández Currás.
As of nine in the morning, the almost one hundred lawyers who intervene in the hearing have begun to arrive. Francisco Garzón has arrived accompanied by his; the same as Cortabitarte, who minutes later, dressed in sunglasses, has entered the City of Culture accompanied by his defense.
The support of the drivers
At the start, a large group of train drivers gathered to show their support for Garzón at this stage of the trial. The spokesman for the train drivers’ union (Semaf), Diego Martín, has told the press that they are attending the hearing to “clothe his partner”, with whom, according to him, “they feel identified”.
During the day, the documentary phase was carried out, which has been considered almost entirely reproduced by the majority of the lawyers, so that the documents and evidence provided have not been exhibited again, except for a relative report Cortabitarte’s participation as an expert in the trial for the Valencia metro accident and a video that was presented by Adif as evidence on the train derailment.
After the conclusions of the parties, the different reports that support these conclusions will be read in the coming days. In the last session, which is expected to take place on July 27, the defendants will have the opportunity to have, if they so wish, one last turn to speak.
The verdict of the trial is not expected until autumn. EFE