Iranian courts have announced prison sentences for 10 unnamed people believed to be responsible for the crash of a Ukraine International Airlines commercial flight in January 2020.
The main suspect in the case, identified only as the commander of the Tor-M1 surface-to-air missile defense system that shot down the plane with two missiles, received a discretionary sentence of 10 years for disobeying orders and three years for being an “accomplice to intentional homicide.” , according to the court’s official news site.
He added that the unidentified person would serve a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, less time served, and should compensate the families of the 176 victims of the robbery.
In addition, two people who operated the missile system were sentenced to one year in prison, while another official from the Tehran Air and Space Defense Control Division of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) was sentenced to terms ranging from one to three years.
The suspects will face new sentences, which have yet to be determined by the court.
All decisions – rendered after 20 hearings – are preliminary and subject to appeal. A military tribunal has also been ordered to continue investigating other people who may be involved.
According to judicial authorities, the case involved 117 plaintiffs, 55 of whom testified in court and were represented by 20 lawyers.
PS752 took off from Imam Khomeini International Airport in the Iranian capital in the early hours of January 8, 2020 and was shot down minutes after takeoff. Iranian authorities initially denied shooting down the plane, but admitted “catastrophic culpability” three days later.
‘human error’
Iran’s final report on the plane’s downing said “human error” was to blame as air defense battery personnel fired the missile without first obtaining proper clearance from Iran. a senior commander, believing that a missile would have hit Tehran.
The incident came shortly after Iran’s Revolutionary Guards launched missiles at two US bases in neighboring Iraq in retaliation for the killing of Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander General Qassem Soleimani by a drone. American.
Sunday’s court report also corroborated this account, saying personnel failed to calibrate the defense system after being moved shortly before the incident, and ignored orders to get immediate approval to fire. during the chaos that night because Iran was planning a possible American strike.
But some of the families of the victims, as well as Ukrainian and Canadian officials – who counted dozens of citizens among the passengers – condemned Iran for what they described as a lack of transparency and cooperation.
A Canadian court ruled in 2021 that the overthrow was an “act of terrorism” amid Tehran’s claims that the matter was politicized. Other courts have also awarded the families tens of millions of dollars that could be recovered from Iranian assets in Canada.
In late 2020, the Iranian government established compensation of $150,000 for each of the victims’ families and later said payments had started, but it was unclear how much had been paid.
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