Decision is made on downing of Ukrainian plane in Iran that killed 176 people
According to the Mizan news agency, affiliated with the Iranian judiciary, a Tehran military court has announced its verdict on the defendants in the Ukraine plane crash case, after nearly three years of trial.
An unnamed commander, one of the first-degree defendants in the case, said to be the commander of the Tor-M1 air defense system that fired the missiles that hit the plane, was sentenced to 13 years in prison.
The commander in question was accused in court of “firing two missiles at the aircraft without obtaining permission, against the instructions of the command center, considering that the characteristics of the target are similar to a cruise missile.”
Another 9 soldiers of various degrees, who were tried as defendants in the second and third degree in the case, were also sentenced to between 1 and 3 years in prison. It was indicated that the way to appeal the judicial decision is open.
WHAT HAPPENED?
Boeing 737 type passenger aircraft, Ukraine Airlines flight number 752, crashed shortly after takeoff from Tehran Imam Khomeini International Airport bound for Kiev on the morning of January 8, 2020, with no survivors of the 176 people who were on the plane.
Iranian officials at first did not accept the claims that the plane had been shot down, then the General Staff announced that the plane had been accidentally shot down by two missiles launched by the air defense system as a result of “human error” in passing over a “sensitive military point”.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Army launched a missile attack on US bases in Iraq in retaliation for the killing of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani, hours before the plane was shot down.
On December 30, 2020, approximately one year after the incident, Iran announced that it would pay compensation of $150,000 to the families of each of those who lost their lives.
In a statement dated January 7, 2021, Tehran’s chief military prosecutor, Ghulam Abbas Turki, stated that only one of the people guilty of the incident related to the plane crash was detained, while the others were released on bail and courts awaiting trial. .
The first hearing in the case was held in November 2021, almost two years after the incident occurred. (AA)