Bringing Iran to justice: countries-victims of flight PS752 to appeal to the UN court

The International Coordination Group for the Victims of Flight PS752, consisting of member countries, intends to hold Iran accountable for the tragic downing of the plane between Tehran and Kyiv in January 2020 through the International Court of Justice. This was reported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, citing a statement by the coordination group.

It is noted that the attempt to reach an agreement on arbitration under Article 14 of the Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Civil Aviation between Iran and the member states of the group was unsuccessful.

"In this regard, the coordination group plans to continue its collective efforts to ensure that Iran is held accountable for the illegal downing of Ukraine International Airlines flight PS752 and that the case is referred to the International Court of Justice as soon as possible," the statement said, without giving further details.

As a reminder, in December 2022, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Sweden demanded that Iran arbitrate the dispute over the downing of the aircraft.

On January 8, 2020, the Iranian military shot down a UIA plane with two surface-to-air missiles. The liner crashed near the city of Parand, 15 kilometers from Imam Khomeini International Airport, from where it had departed for Kyiv.

As a result of this tragedy, 176 people died, including 11 Ukrainians, including the crew, 82 Iranians, 63 Canadians (most of whom also had Iranian citizenship), as well as citizens of Sweden, Afghanistan, and the United Kingdom.

For three days, the Iranian authorities denied the missile strike, but later admitted that it had taken place. In December 2020, it was announced that the investigation into the crash had been completed. At that time, the families of the victims were promised to receive $150,000 each. In November 2021, an Iranian military court began proceedings against ten defendants.

However, the coordination group responsible for assisting the victims of the plane crash called the trial a sham, saying that it was not objective and transparent and did not bring justice to the families of the passengers.

In April 2023, Iran sentenced the military officers accused of shooting down the UIA plane: the commander was sentenced to 10 years in prison, and the other officers involved were sentenced to one to three years in prison. However, the Coordination Group considers this trial to be a sham, claiming that it was not impartial and transparent, and did not bring justice to the families of the victims.