Iran court hands down jail sentences to 10 military staff over 2020 Ukraine jet downing

An Iranian court has issued a verdict for 10 members of the country’s Armed Forces who were involved in the 2020 accidental downing of a Ukrainian passenger plane in the skies over the capital, Tehran.

The Mizan news agency of Iran's Judiciary announced on Sunday that the court found 10 people guilty in the deadly incident, with the main defendant being sentenced to 13 years in prison while nine others received terms of one to three years.

The prime suspect, Mizan said, is a defense system commander who “mistook” Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 (PS752/AUI752) for a cruise missile and shot the plane twice in contravention of to the order of the commanding center.

The website added that the commander's action in leading the downing of the plane "was due to his ignorance of the situation and his misplaced belief that the discovered target was hostile."

The other persons who have been found guilty by the court are the personnel of the Army’s air defense post.

Mizan stressed that the verdict was issued after more than three years and a total of 20 trial hearings in a lengthy judicial process in which 117 plaintiffs filed their lawsuits, 55 of the plaintiffs spoke and read out their complaints in the court sessions, and 20 lawyers represented the plaintiffs and presented their complaints and relevant evidence.

"Examining this case has been one of the most important, sensitive, and complex judicial processes in the last few years of the country," the Judiciary-affiliated website said.

Iranian military court begins hearings on 2020 Ukrainian plane crash

An Iranian military court begins a hearing process over a Ukrainian passenger plane crash near Tehran in early 2020.

The verdict issued in the case is preliminary and can be appealed within 20 days.

Mizan underlined that for each victim of the tragic incident, a sum of 150,000 dollars or its equivalent in Euros has been considered as reparations, which is independent of judicial proceedings and will be awarded to their families.

On January 8, 2020, the Ukraine International Airlines flight PS752, en route to Kiev and transporting mostly Iranians, crashed minutes after takeoff near the Iranian capital, killing all the 176 on board.

The plane was shot down by Iran’s air defenses, which mistook the aircraft for a military target amid tensions between Tehran and Washington following the US assassination of revered Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani in Iraq days earlier.

Iran acknowledged days later that the mismanagement of an air defense unit’s radar system by its operator was the key human error that led to the accident.

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