It is noted that Iran did not respond to the group’s demand for the establishment of arbitration to resolve the dispute, sent on December 28, 2022.
“As a consequence, this week in The Hague, we jointly filed a lawsuit with the International Court of Justice, thereby initiating proceedings against Iran for violation of the 1971 Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Civil Aviation,” the statement said.
Iran’s actions and omissions to shoot down Flight PS752 with two surface-to-air missiles launched by the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps are said to be in violation of Iran’s international legal obligations, for which it must take full responsibility.
The lawsuit also states that Tehran “failed to take all possible measures to prevent the crash of flight PS752 by members of its armed forces.”
“Iran has also failed to conduct a full, transparent and impartial pre-trial investigation and trial in accordance with international standards,” the group said in a statement. “The joint lawsuit in the International Court of Justice reflects our unwavering commitment to achieving transparency, fairness and accountability for all families of the victims of flight PS752 “.
Context:
The Boeing 737-800 flight PS752, which was heading from Tehran to Kyiv, crashed on January 8, 2020 near the capital of Iran. There were 167 passengers and nine crew members on board. No one survived. Among the dead – 11 citizens of Ukraine. Most of the passengers were citizens of Iran and Canada.
The Iranian authorities, who at first claimed that the plane crashed due to a technical malfunction, admitted on January 11, under pressure from Western leaders, that flight PS752 was shot down by an Iranian missile by mistake.
Iran on February 20, 2021 announced the completion of the investigation into the crash. The Iranian prosecutor’s office accused 10 people of involvement in the crash, among them there are top military commanders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba called Iran’s report biased and vowed to continue seeking Iran’s punishment for this crime.
In January 2023, Ukraine’s Chargé d’Affaires a.i. in Iran Yevhen Kravchenko reported that Iran had still not officially announced the names of the accused.
On April 16, Iran sentenced 10 military personnel to prison terms on charges of involvement in the UIA plane crash. The commander was sentenced to 13 years in prison, nine other convicts received sentences ranging from one to three years.
Members of the international group for coordinating assistance to the victims of the flight stated at the end of June that Iran did not cooperate through arbitration, so there will be an appeal to the International Court of Justice.
2023-07-05 11:48:08
#Iran #sued #International #Court #Justice #downing #UIA #passenger #plane