Athens court convicts three Attikes Diadromes executives over 2022 snowstorm gridlock on Attiki Odos

Verdict

A Single-Member Misdemeanor Court in Athens found three executives of the motorway operator Attikes Diadromes guilty of disrupting transport safety during the extreme snowstorm Elpida in January 2022. The court imposed a 10-month suspended prison sentence. All three defendants were granted the mitigating factor of a previously lawful life, but the bench refused to accept sincere remorse.

The rejected compensation argument

The defendants had argued they tried to undo the consequences of the stranding by giving each trapped driver 2,000 euros. The court rejected that argument as grounds for sincere remorse.

“The company was obliged by the Ministry to proceed with that action and did not do it on its own initiative.”

Acquittals

Three other defendants, one from the same firm and two from the Attiki Odos operating company, were acquitted. The prosecutor had initially sought four convictions.

Traffic police under scrutiny

Following a prosecutorial request, the court ordered the trial records to be forwarded to the Athens First-Instance Prosecutor’s Office. Investigators will examine whether criminal offences were committed by the then Attica Traffic Police director and the then traffic commander responsible for the Attiki Odos, on the grounds that a heavy-vehicle ban should have been decided before the extreme weather hit.