Egyptian Court of Cassation on Saturday issued its lasting ruling the Ramses train station accident case, which killed over 31 people and left 17 injured on February 2019.
The court issued final deterrent penalties that cannot be challenged, as it convicted the defendants with the leveled charges brought by the prosecution. It also turned down any appeal by the defendants against the earlier ruling, and upheld all sentences issued against them by Cairo Criminal Court, which had sentenced 14 defendants in March 2020 to prison for their involvement in the accident.
The Public Prosecutor’s office in June 2019 had referred suspects in the case to urgent trial, charging them with manslaughter and gross negligence.
These suspects include the train’s driver, his assistant, another driver and three other rail employees.
The court convicted the defendants of violating safety operation rules issued by their employer, alongside forgery and charges that they had signed the attendance sheet on behalf of absent colleagues. The prosecution had called for the maximum penalty against the suspects, as their negligence resulted in the death and injury of dozens of commuters.
The court sentenced the train driver, the main suspect in the case, to 15 years in prison and fined him over LE 8.8 million.
Four defendants were sentence to 10 years in prison each and five others to seven years imprisonment. Another defendant was sentenced to 10 years in prison plus an additional three years for using drugs, with a fine of LE10,000.
Another defendant received five years imprisonment, with two others receiving three years and two years respectively.
The accident involved a fire that broke out in Ramses Station when a train engine collided with the station’s pavement at the end of the line, causing an explosion.
