Iranian soldiers convicted of shooting down a Ukrainian plane

A court in Iran sentenced 10 soldiers to prison terms of 1 to 13 years for their involvement in the downing of a Ukrainian passenger plane in January 2020which caused the death of its 176 occupants.

The commander who ordered the downing of the Ukraine International Airlines (UIA) plane He was sentenced to three years in prison for the murder of a passenger and another 10 years for “ignoring the protocol” of security, the Mizan Pravosuđe agency announced.

The court established that the commander shot down the plane out of “ignorance” and “mistake”confusing the Ukrainian flight with a “hostile” element.

The soldier, otherwise the main defendant in the proceedings whose identity has not been revealed, he will serve 10 years in prison, the greater of two sentencesand must also pay a fine to the relatives of the victims.

Nine other members of the country’s air force were convicted sentenced to one to three years in prison for shooting down a plane.

Mizan indicated that it was The judicial decision was made after 20 hearings and a “detailed investigation”. spends three years.

“This case study It was one of the most important, sensitive and complex judicial processes in recent years in the country,” said Mizan.

The Convicted persons can appeal the sentence within 20 days.

Iran will also pay $150,000 to each relative of the victimssays Mizan, who did not clarify how and when this payment will be made.

A Ukraine International Airlines (UIA) Boeing 737 was shot down by two missiles shortly after takeoff from Tehran airport in the morning January 8, 2020 on the way to Kyiv.

On the flight 55 Canadians and 30 Canadian permanent residents were travelingas well as citizens of Iran, Ukraine, Sweden, Afghanistan, Germany and the United Kingdom.

Tehran attributed the downing to an “error” by one of the air defense system operators Revolutionary Guard.

Iran claimed that its armed forces were on alert that day because they expected retaliation from the United States for bombing a military base in Iraq hours earlier with US troops, an attack that in turn was revenge for the assassination of a powerful Iranian general Qassem Soleimani.