Iranian court reaches verdict in Ukrainian plane crash investigation
An Iranian court on Sunday reached a final verdict in its investigation of the 2020 downing of a Ukrainian jetliner by Iran's Revolutionary Guards.
The court found 10 people guilty, sentencing the main defendant to 10 years in prison, with others receiving prison terms of between one and three years, according to Iranian media.
An investigation official, Mr Khodaei, said: “We have invited the United States as the country responsible for designing and constructing the aircraft and Ukraine as the country registering and utilising the aircraft to partake in this investigation.”
The Head of Iran's Armed Forces Judiciary, Pour-Aghakhan, said that the judges and jury “cast their votes with utmost justice and neutrality.”
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards shot down the Ukraine International Airlines flight on January 8, 2020, shortly after it took off from Tehran Airport.
Iran's civil aviation body, which had responsibility for investigating the crash, said the operator mistook the jet for a missile at a time when tensions were high between Tehran and the United States.
The incidents that killed all 176 people aboard involved many were Canadian citizens or permanent residents.
Canada said in a report published in June 2021 it had found no evidence that the incident had been premeditated, and condemned what it called the incompetence and recklessness of those responsible.
Reuters
