The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry has responded to the first verdict of the Iranian judiciary in the case of the downing of the Boeing of Ukraine International Airlines (flight #PS752) over Tehran in January 2020.
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This week, Iran announced verdicts in its criminal trials against the alleged perpetrators of the downing of the plane.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine on April 18 in an official statement called this trial fictitious. According to Ukrainian diplomats, he “should not distract the world from Iran’s failure to fulfill its international obligations and avoid responsibility for its actions.”
Neither the trials nor the verdicts announced this week have brought truth or justice to the families of the victims. The entire process, starting with Iran’s investigation into the circumstances of the beating, was not impartial and transparent. The family of 176 innocent victims is still waiting for the justice they deserve. We stand in solidarity with the families and loved ones of the victims of the downing of flight PS752 and will make every effort necessary until justice is ensured, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Background
On April 16, Iran passed its first sentence on an Iranian officer. The verdict in the Ukrainian plane crash came after three years of extensive investigations and 20 court hearings. According to investigators, the commander of the air defense complex opened fire by mistake.
The first person involved in the case of the crash of the Boeing-737 aircraft of Ukraine International Airlines, during which 176 people died, was sentenced to 13 years in prison. On Sunday, April 16, according to the Iranian edition of Entekha.
Iranian journalists note that the consideration of this case was one of the most important, delicate and complex trials over the past few years in the country.
It is reported that the Tehran military court issued orders against 10 people and issued an indictment.
The indictment says that the commander of the Tor M-1 air defense system, contrary to the order of the command post and without obtaining permission and contrary to the relevant instructions, fired two missiles at the Ukrainian aircraft.
According to investigators, the defendant’s behavior was caused by his ignorance of the case and an erroneous idea of the identified target. The materials say that the Iranian commander mistakenly opened fire and was not going to shoot down a passenger plane.
At the same time, according to Bloomberg, citing state media, the Iranian judiciary sentenced only 10 military personnel of the country’s air defense forces to prison terms ranging from one to 13 years.
Recall, on January 8, 2020, the Boeing-737 of UIA airlines, following the route Tehran – Kyiv (Borispol), crashed shortly after takeoff. Local media immediately reported that the plane could have been accidentally shot down by an Iranian missile. There were 167 passengers and nine crew members on board. They all died.
On the morning of January 11, the General Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces acknowledged that the UIA plane was shot down as a result of “human error.” The military say the plane was thought to be a hostile target after it was returned to the Revolutionary Guard military center. The perpetrators are promised to be brought to justice. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps claimed full responsibility for the crash of the Ukrainian plane. The commander of the Aerospace Forces of the IRGC said that on the fateful night, the air defense operator mistook the Boeing for a cruise missile, could not contact his superiors, and made the wrong decision.
After that, protests broke out in Tehran and other Iranian cities. The demonstrators demanded punishment for those responsible for the plane crash. Among them is the resignation of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
On April 16, 2021, NSDC Secretary Alexei Danilov, commenting on the plane crash, stated that the Iranian army purposefully shot down flight PS752.
We also recall that in January last year, the International Group for the Investigation of the Crash of Flight PS752 of UIA established the names of possible persons involved in the destruction of the aircraft, but the Iranian authorities do not contribute to the investigators.
Source: Racurs
I am David Wyatt, a professional writer and journalist for Buna Times. I specialize in the world section of news coverage, where I bring to light stories and issues that affect us globally. As a graduate of Journalism, I have always had the passion to spread knowledge through writing.