Greek deputies voting on a motion of censure against the government will have to decide between "serving the power of justice and justice's institutions or the mentality of a state rule that does not hesitate to use them to remain in power," former prime minister and PASOK-Movement for Change (KINAL) deputy George Papandreou said in Parliament on Friday.

Papandreou was addressing ruling New Democracy deputies as a plenary debate in Parliament continued for the third day on a motion of censure tabled by PASOK with another three parties and independent deputies.

The former PM charged the government of using "Italian mafia methods to try and make every trace and responsibility for the crime [of the Tempi train collision] to disappear," and called the no-confidence motion as "an act of democratic responsibility and duty" before Greek society.

In particular, he continued, "The method of covering up with earth was a favorite method of the Italian mafia to make every trace of a crime disappear. It obstructs the search for evidence by the police and coroners. If the government believed it was the most effective way of making traces of anyone responsible from disappearing, he didn't count on the sense of justice of the Greek people that was cruelly trampled on. The materials laid on top of the scene of tragedy at Tempi lie heavy on New Democracy's shoulders. The day of reckoning has arrived for deputies of the ruling majority who face agonizing questions and decisions."

Papandreou said that the motion of censure "is our institutional duty before your clear-cut, massive and unquestionable political responsibilities, in obstructing justice, in obliterating evidence, in the blatant misleading of public opinion through a scapegoat, and in the covering up of truth through judicial, parliamentary, and media procedures." 

He continued to say that besides New Democracy's policies and electoral loss coming up, what is more serious is "the certainty growing in the conscience of the Greek people that today there is no justice and a rule of law in Greece."