Ten Iranian military personnel have been sentenced to prison terms for their involvement in the January 2020 crash of a Ukrainian passenger plane that killed all 176 passengers, Iranian justice said this Sunday.
The main defendant, the SAM commander, was sentenced to 10 years in prison with capital punishment for disrespecting the orders of his superiors by shooting down the plane with two missiles.
The remaining nine soldiers were sentenced to terms ranging from one to three years in prison.
The commander of the air defense system “fired two missiles at flight PS752, against the orders of the command post, without obtaining permission and in violation of instructions,” added the same source quoted by Agence France-Presse.
Iran’s judiciary did not provide details on the identities of the convicts, who are yet to appeal their sentences, including four defense officials, an air defense base commander and a control center employee.
On January 8, 2020, the Iranian Armed Forces shot down a Ukrainian International Airlines flight from Tehran to Kiev, killing 176 people on board, mostly Iranians and Canadians, including several citizens with dual citizenship.
On the night of the tragedy, Iran’s air defense was put on high alert, fearing an attack by the Americans.
After several days of denials, the Iranian military admitted responsibility for the attack on the plane, claiming “human error”.
In November 2021, the judiciary announced the start of the trial of 10 military personnel “of various ranks” for their involvement in the case.
The tragedy with this Boeing, on board of which there were many students, also caused a wave of indignation in Iran, especially among students of the country’s universities.
In early 2022, Iran assured that it had begun paying compensation to some of the families of the victims, paying each “an amount of $150,000” and pledging to compensate the rest.
In December of the same year, a four-nation group led by Canada announced that it had required Tehran to undergo binding arbitration in order to “hold Iran accountable” for the downing of the aircraft.
Canada, Ukraine, Sweden and the UK have invoked the 1971 Montreal Convention, which governs crimes against civil aviation, to request this arbitration.