Iranian justice indicted ten people responsible for destroying Ukrainian plane that left 176 dead

The Iranian authorities this week indicted ten persons responsible for the fall of the Ukrainian plane of the airline company Ukraine International Airlines in January 2020 which caused the death of its 176 occupants. As the outgoing military prosecutor of Tehran, Gholamabbas Torki, announced on Tuesday, “a serious and precise investigation has been carried out and the indictment has been issued for ten culprits and the necessary conclusions will be adopted in court”.

The military prosecutor of Tehran did not provide further details or identify the aforementioned officials in their statements., performed during the transfer ceremony of the post to Naser Seraj.

The Ukranian International Airlines (UIA) Boeing 737 was shot down with two missiles shortly after taking off from Tehran airport on the morning of January 8, 2020 bound for Kiev.. The tragedy sparked much controversy around the world, with Iran denying for three days that it shot the plane, although Ukraine expressed suspicion that the shooting was not accidental.

On March 17, the Civil Aviation Organization of Iran released its report in which it concluded that “the plane has been identified as a hostile target due to the error of the operator of the air defense system located around Tehran”.. Report identifies four key failures of the Iranian military, without specifying a specific branch or unit, including 105-degree error in the alignment of a short-range defense system, “faulty communication” between the military and civilians in space. Aircraft, misidentification of the aircraft and failure to follow routine control procedures required for missile launch. The document also details that an “operator” had identified the aircraft as a “target” and had fired at the aircraft, since the specifications of the aircraft that it was a civilian aircraft did not meet the command center. For the moment, the supposedly involved have not been identified.

The Iranian armed forces were on high alert that day because they had carried out an attack on a military base in Iraq with the presence of American troops, in revenge for the operation against the powerful Iranian general Qasem Soleimaní, and expected retaliatory action from the part. Washington.

The incident led to increased tensions between Tehran and the countries of origin of the passengers on the plane – Ukraine, Canada, Afghanistan, the United Kingdom and Sweden – with Iranian authorities initially refusing to admit it had shot down the plane.

Iranian government approved compensation of 150,000 USD for each of the 176 victims: 82 Iranians, 63 Canadians, eleven Ukrainians (two passengers and nine crew members), ten Swedes, four Afghans, three Germans and three British.

A year after the incident, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky called for justice for the victims and their families and stressed that it was “impossible” for Iran not to know that the device covering the road Tehran-Kiev was an airliner. .

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