TEHRAN: The judiciary’s Mizan Online website said on Sunday that the court has sentenced ten army personnel to prison following finding them guilty of involvement in the downing of a Ukrainian airline.
Court Jails Ten Personnel
Iranian troops shot down Ukraine International Airlines flight shortly following its takeoff from Tehran on January 8, 2020, killing all 176 passengers on board. Most passengers were Canadians and Iranians, including many dual citizens.
The judiciary reported that a top military official of army received the heaviest penalty of ten years in prison for having defied order in shooting down the airplane.
Nine other officials were sentenced to between one and 3 years, Mizan said. The officials of a Tor M-1 surface-to-air missile system “fired 2 missiles” at the airline “contrary to order”, Mizan said.
Three days following Ukraine-bound airplane was shot down, the Iranian troops acknowledged there had been a “mistake.”
“Given the degree of the effects and consequences of this act, the main offender was sentenced to the maximum punishment,” Mizan added on Sunday.
Tensions between Tehran and Washington had been mounting at the time the airplane was shot down.
Iran’s air defenses were on red alert for a US counterattack following Tehran fired missiles at a US military base in Iraq.
Those missiles attacks came in response to the killing in a US drone attack in Iraq of General Qassem Soleimani.
Ukraine lost eleven people in the crash. Iran’s judiciary said in 2021 that ten military men “of various ranks” in connection with the plane’s downing would be tried in the court.
Tehran also said that it had started paying compensation to families of the victims.
Arash Khodaei, a deputy president of Iran’s Civil Aviation Organization, said that “$150,000 has been provided” to the families of the victims.
