The survivors and relatives of the Alvia accident, which killed 80 people on July 24, 2013, have missed the last opportunity for an independent technical investigation into the causes of the derailment. The Supreme Court has rejected Alvia Victims Platform Association 04155's request for a new investigation to be carried out by the Railway Accident Investigation Commission (CIAF), after the European Commission invalidated the investigation carried out during the government of Mariano Rajoy for lack of impartiality. The decision of the Supreme Court rejects the appeal lodged by the victims against the sentence imposed in May 2022 by the Supreme Court of Madrid, which had ruled that it was for the CIAF, in its current configuration, to examine and decide upon request of the club.
The Alvia's victims have been fighting for a decade to establish who was responsible for the accident, apart from the sentencing trial last July for which the driver and a senior Adif official face four years in prison. In 2016, the European Commission closed the investigation carried out by the CIAF immediately after the accident, which attributed the tragedy to the driver's negligence. The European Railway Agency refuted this opinion due to various irregularities, including that among the investigators were the safety directors of Adif and Renfe, who were involved in the accident, and that there was no connection between the track management and the accident analyzed. Accident. The deceased's relatives and relatives had demanded that the government reopen the investigation and when it refused, they took the matter to court.
The victims requested that the current members of the CIAF be dismissed so that the investigation could be reopened. However, the Supreme Court concludes that the provisions of the CIAF contained in the Railway Sector Law (Law 38/2015) ensure its independence and are consistent with European Union law in this area (Directive 2016/798). The court points out that its dependence on the Ministry of Transport only serves the purposes of administrative organization and does not affect its full independence in the exercise of its investigative tasks, since it cannot receive instructions from any administrative body. The appointment of its members, experts in the field, by the Minister of Transport is subject to parliamentary control, the Supreme Court adds. The court also points out that the commission's task is exclusively to professionally investigate the causes and circumstances of the accident and, if necessary, to formulate suggestions for improvement, but in no way to clarify responsibilities, which corresponds to criminal jurisdiction. .
What influences the most is what happens next. So you don't miss anything, subscribe.
Subscribe to
Limited time special offer
Subscribe to continue reading
Read without limits
_