Iran’s judicial system has sentenced the military, who in January 2020 mistakenly shot down a Ukrainian passenger plane Boeing 737-800 near Tehran, ten defendants received from one to 13 years in prison.
The court sentenced the operator of the air defense system “Tor” to the highest punishment, who fired two missiles at the Boeing 737-800 without the commander’s order, recognizing it as an enemy aircraft. Also, according to the court’s decision, he must pay compensation to the relatives of the victims.
The name of the operator of the air defense system “Tor” (as well as other participants in the case of the downed Ukrainian plane) is not disclosed. In addition, the two military personnel who operated the missile system were sentenced to one year in prison each, while other officials of Tehran’s Air Defense Directorate and the Aerospace Unit of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) were sentenced to terms ranging from one to three years
All convictions after 20 trials were preliminary and could be appealed. The military court also ordered the investigation of other persons who may have been involved in the case to continue.
According to the judicial authorities, 117 plaintiffs participated in the case, 55 of whom testified in court and were represented by 20 lawyers.
We will remind that the Boeing 737-800 of the International Airlines of Ukraine was shot down on January 8 shortly after departure from the Tehran airport. 176 people died. At first, the Iranian authorities named the cause of the crash as an engine explosion, but later admitted that missiles were mistakenly fired at the plane.
Iran’s final report on the downing of the plane said that the cause was “human error” because the personnel of the air defense battery launched the missiles without first obtaining proper permission from the higher command, believing that the missile would hit Tehran.
A number of families of the dead, in addition to officials in Ukraine and Canada (among the dead were dozens of Canadian citizens), condemned Iran for lack of transparency and cooperation.
In 2021, a Canadian court ruled that the incident was a “terrorist act.” Tehran, for its part, said that the case was politicized. Another court also awarded some families tens of millions of dollars that could have been seized from Iranian assets in Canada.
The Iranian government in late 2020 set a compensation of $150,000 to each of the families of the victims and later said that payments had begun, but it was not yet clear how much had already been paid.
The court sentenced the operator of the air defense system “Tor” to the highest punishment, who fired two missiles at the Boeing 737-800 without the commander’s order, recognizing it as an enemy aircraft. Also, according to the court’s decision, he must pay compensation to the relatives of the victims.
The name of the operator of the air defense system “Tor” (as well as other participants in the case of the downed Ukrainian plane) is not disclosed. In addition, the two military personnel who operated the missile system were sentenced to one year in prison each, while other officials of Tehran’s Air Defense Directorate and the Aerospace Unit of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) were sentenced to terms ranging from one to three years
All convictions after 20 trials were preliminary and could be appealed. The military court also ordered the investigation of other persons who may have been involved in the case to continue.
According to the judicial authorities, 117 plaintiffs participated in the case, 55 of whom testified in court and were represented by 20 lawyers.
We will remind that the Boeing 737-800 of the International Airlines of Ukraine was shot down on January 8 shortly after departure from the Tehran airport. 176 people died. At first, the Iranian authorities named the cause of the crash as an engine explosion, but later admitted that missiles were mistakenly fired at the plane.
Iran’s final report on the downing of the plane said that the cause was “human error” because the personnel of the air defense battery launched the missiles without first obtaining proper permission from the higher command, believing that the missile would hit Tehran.
A number of families of the dead, in addition to officials in Ukraine and Canada (among the dead were dozens of Canadian citizens), condemned Iran for lack of transparency and cooperation.
In 2021, a Canadian court ruled that the incident was a “terrorist act.” Tehran, for its part, said that the case was politicized. Another court also awarded some families tens of millions of dollars that could have been seized from Iranian assets in Canada.
The Iranian government in late 2020 set a compensation of $150,000 to each of the families of the victims and later said that payments had begun, but it was not yet clear how much had already been paid.