A statement in response to the hunger strike outside parliament by the father of 22-year-old Daniel, who died in the train collision at the Tempi, asking for permission to exhume his son, was made on Friday morning by Antonis Samaras.

In his statement, the former prime minister argued that “there is no moral basis for the persistent rejection of the request of the parents of the victims to proceed with the exhumation of the bodies of their children.”

“They have an absolute right to ascertain whether the remains that were hastily and without proper scrutiny handed over for burial actually belong to their children. It is a fundamental human right,” concludes Antonis Samaras.

Full statement by Antonis Samaras

As a member of the Greek Parliament and a politician who was responsible for the country at the most critical moment in its recent history, I consider it my duty to point out the following about the recent developments in the Tempi tragedy :

There is no moral basis for the persistent rejection of the request of the parents of the victims to proceed with the exhumation of the bodies of their children. They have an absolute right to ascertain whether the remains, which were hastily handed over for burial without proper scrutiny, actually belong to their children. It is a fundamental human right.