- Data Journalists present audio recordings featuring Alikakos’s claims.
- The self-styled “fact-checker” alleges that the Prime Minister’s office and the judiciary had been aware of the material that was eventually published on February 5, 2025, since November 20, 2025.
- On January 29, 2025, Prime Minister Mitsotakis gave an interview to Alpha TV journalist Antonis Sroiter. During the interview, he allegedly “foreshadowed” the emergence of the videos.
- “Let it be for now; we’ll see,” was reportedly the initial reaction of government officials, who later decided to use the material following massive demonstrations.
- A “bombshell” just days before the trial for the Tempi tragedy begins—or deliberate disinformation?
- Why has the Prosecutor not intervened yet?
by Aris Chatzigeorgiou
Has the “chief arbiter of truth” decided to expose the Mitsotakis government’s communication tactics, which sometimes backfire? Or has he begun spreading “conspiracy theories,” despite being tasked with debunking them? These questions concern Dimitris Alikakos, Editor-in-Chief of the fact-checking team Ellinika Hoaxes. Alikakos has publicly claimed that the so-called “Kapernaros videos,” released on February 5, 2025, were known to the government and the Tempi case investigating magistrate as early as November 20, 2024, yet no action was taken.
On the evening of February 25, 2026, Dimitris Alikakos appeared on a public discussion held via the Spaces feature on the X platform (formerly Twitter) without even introducing himself. “X Spaces” hosts live audio conversations and allows users to discuss topics of shared interest.
The discussion began after 9:00 p.m. on February 25, 2026. It lasted five hours and five minutes and focused on the third anniversary of the Tempi tragedy. Nearly 6,000 X users attended the discussion. Deppy (@Deppy908890092) organized the discussion, and the main guests were Nikos Plakias, who lost two daughters and a niece in the tragedy, and Vangelis Vlachos, who lost a brother.
Discussions on X Spaces allow participants to speak from anywhere in the world. For example, Vangelis Vlachos lives in Argentina. Participants can speak for as long as they like (audio only, no video), and they can ask questions. The host manages who gets the floor. Since March 2023, this particular group has engaged with the “Tempi tragedy,” organizing discussions and exchanging information and views. The discussion held that evening remains publicly available at the following link https://x.com/Deppy90890092/status/2026738525152989508 for anyone who wishes to listen to it afterwards. Clearly, the main speakers know each other, even though they use pseudonyms as X users (Jack Sparrow, Sokin, LOLOFLAERA, etc.).
Vangelis Vlachos begins the discussion by laying out the facts of the case. The main trial is set to begin on March 23, 2026, and other proceedings are already underway, such as those concerning the missing videos. He also mentions the mistakes and serious gaps in the investigation and the role played by deficiencies in Greece’s railway safety systems. Later, Nikos Plakias joins the discussion, and the two begin speaking together and responding to questions raised by participants. They address every question, including the dispute over the alleged illegal cargo, silicone oils and xylene, the politicization of the case, the role of the judiciary, and the hope that the 57 victims will ultimately receive justice through the upcoming trials. They also touch on disagreements among the victims’ families and Maria Karystianou’s stance.
During the discussion, Dimitris Alikakos appears, and viewers see a speaker whose pseudonym begins with “Ellinika” take the floor (the full name is not visible). Some participants address him as “ellinika” or “dear listener,” while the Ellinika Hoaxes logo appears in a small size. Quite some time passes before the discussion reaches the 3:31:50 timestamp. At this point, Mr. Alikakos finally introduces himself and apologizes for not doing so earlier.
However, in the time leading up to this, Mr. Alikakos had posed a series of clearly targeted questions. He asked the relatives of the two victims to comment on the technical advisors who appeared on television and presented theories “that had been debunked.” He asked Nikos Plakias to name the “scoundrels” and those responsible for the xylene. Despite the aggressive tone of the questions, the discussion continued without theatrics. As the hours went on, the mood became reminiscent of a late-night confession. At one point, even before Alikakos formally introduced himself, Nikos Plakias remarked how much it bothers him that someone could watch the entire discussion later and focus solely on Ellinika Hoaxes’ presence.
As the discussion draws to a close, it returns to the “Kapernaros videos,” which surfaced after February 5, 2025. The videos show freight train 63503 passing shortly before colliding with InterCity 62, as captured by Interstar cameras. At Nikos Plakias’s prompting, Dimitris Alikakos takes the floor and says:
On the 20th of the month, there are possibly some things you don’t know yet that haven’t come to light, but since Nikos and Vangelis are here, we can talk about them so you can learn about them.
These are fully documented.
The Kapernaros videos were available on November 20th.
The government was informed the same week.
Their response was, ‘Let it be for now and we’ll see.’
Then Christmas came.
The videos were there, and the investigating magistrate had been informed, yet no one reacted.
When the movement started gaining momentum with the “I have no oxygen” incident and the demonstrations on the 26th, what you mentioned happened: the interview with Sroiter and the release of the videos to the public on February 5.
So, count it: from November 20 to February 5.
In my view, this is an unjustifiable delay by the government that could have prevented all of this.
You asked me why it happened and how they could have scored such an own goal.
I don’t have evidence for that.
But I have evidence of the facts I just mentioned.
The dates.
The government knew about the videos’ existence.
Did they not evaluate them properly?
Maybe. Did they underestimate them? Maybe.
Many things are possible.
The digital audience “freezes,” as if trying to process what they just heard. Dimitris Alikakos has been accused on multiple occasions of defending the Mitsotakis government more than the truth—perhaps even more than the Truth Team itself.
The Kapernaros videos were one of the main tools the government used to claim that no illegal cargo could have caused the fireball in Tempi. On February 7, 2025, Dimitris Alikakos himself rushed to post on social media a piece titled “END TITLES on the ‘illegal cargo.'” Despite the fact that the videos’ authenticity had not yet been verified and the entire country was speculating about how they had suddenly surfaced after Kyriakos Mitsotakis had “wished” for them to exist (in the Sroiter interview), Alikakos wrote unequivocally:
Two videos were released just minutes before the accident. They CLEARLY show that there was nothing suspicious in the three open wagons carrying sheets of metal. NO tanks.
Nearly two years later, the conspiracy theory started by a political fraudster—who even involved NATO with the “illegal cargo”—and believed by most citizens has been DEBUNKED.
This lie misled and delayed the investigation and, consequently, the start of the trial. It also delayed the justice owed to the memory of the victims and the efforts of their families to highlight the mistakes and omissions of the state machinery.
Final conclusion: There was NOTHING on the wagons.
Written just hours after the videos were released via Aris Portosalte, the text revealed the author’s excitement. A year later, in the early hours of February 26, 2026, Dimitris Alikakos expressed concern about the government’s “own goal.” By “own goal,” he meant that the government had not released the videos earlier, which allowed the Tempi movement to grow and led to the first major demonstration on January 23, 2025. These gatherings in Athens and several other major cities shook the government, and they were repeated on February 28 of that year, despite the videos’ publication and some people’s claims that the footage proved there was no “illegal cargo.”
However, Alikakos’s “revelation” also raises questions about the judiciary’s functioning. It seems that the judiciary has been aware of the videos since November 20, yet no action has been taken. The Editor-in-Chief of Ellinika Hoaxes did not disclose when he learned of the “full evidence” behind his claims. In any case, a detailed report published on Ellinika Hoaxes on April 2, 2025, titled “The DEE Debunks the Illegal Cargo Theory on the Three Open Freight Platforms: What the Findings and Video Analyses Show,” provides a very different description:
“On February 5, 2025, Interstar Security, the security systems company responsible for guarding and video monitoring the railway network, handed over three new videos to the Larissa Appellate Investigating Magistrate through its authorized lawyer, Mr. Vasilis Kapernaros. The videos show freight train 63503 passing through the Rapsani and Platamon tunnels just minutes before the tragic accident.”
In another passage, the date is also February 5: “It is worth clarifying the contentious issue of ‘when they were delivered’ and ‘when they were retrieved.’ The three videos were handed over to the Appellate Investigating Magistrate on February 5, 2025. On February 10, 2025, police seized Interstar’s computers to examine the hard drives and verify the videos’ authenticity. On the same day, the head of Interstar Security’s technical department was summoned to testify before the Appellate Investigating Magistrate.”
The date November 20, 2024, appears only in another section, somewhat buried. “It should be noted that the three files submitted to the Appellate Investigating Magistrate on February 5 have a creation date of November 20, 2024. These are authentic copies uploaded on March 2 and 9, 2023.” Nowhere does it emphasize that, as of November 20, the government and the magistrate knew everything. Thus, the text’s conclusion still reflects the author’s excitement about revealing the truth:
Conclusion:
For a long time, it was widely believed that the first three open wagons of the freight train were carrying illegal cargo in tanks. This claim appeared in official reports by technical advisors and dominated the media. Some media outlets misled the public by asserting that the claim reflected the conclusions of Belgian scientists at Ghent University. However, three new videos from Interstar Security, a security systems company, submitted to the Appellate Investigating Magistrate, together with the Leptokarya video, refute this claim. According to the judicial experts’ report, freight train 63503 was identified in the three new videos, which are genuine copies of the recording. The report states that “no other cargo is visible on the freight cars” apart from “what is listed on the official cargo manifest.” These findings confirm the visual analysis conducted by the Ellinika Hoaxes team on January 31 and February 7, 2025. (Note: The January 31 date refers to the analysis of a different video from a store in Leptokarya, Pieria, that had previously been broadcast on Star TV’s news bulletin and retrieved after Mitsotakis’s interview.)
What led the so-called “enemy of fake news” to speak out against the government and judiciary, accusing them of hiding evidence? In the early hours of February 26, 2026, questions began pouring in from other participants on the digital platform: “Did they use them while concealing them?” “Did they use them so that others would come up empty-handed later?” “Did the prosecutor know about their existence and not order them to be handed over?” At that point, the “defender of the truth” began to get confused. The speaker Sokin raised a reasonable question: “Fifty-seven people were killed… An accident happens on Syngrou Avenue, and we see fifteen videos on TV.” In any case, no triumphant conclusion emerges. Dimitris Alikakos seems to have swallowed his words. He mumbles something about a November 22 document that informed the magistrate about the recorders, not the videos themselves, and the discussion ends inconclusively as time runs out…
