Flight 752; Canada and Ukraine Demand Transparency and Compensation from Iran
The foreign ministers of Ukraine and Canada met and held talks on Wednesday, July 7, 2020, regarding the matter of receiving compensation from Iran for the families of victims of Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752, which was shot down in December 2019 by fire from air defense units of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Canada’s Foreign Ministry reported that Mark Garneau, Canada’s foreign minister, and Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine’s foreign minister, emphasized their two countries’ commitments to cooperating with each other, establishing justice, clarifying the incident, and obtaining compensation for the families of passengers on this flight.
The meeting took place on the sidelines of the Ukraine Reforms Conference in Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania. Ukrainian media reported, citing the country’s foreign ministry, that Mr. Kuleba and Mr. Garneau also discussed deepening special relations between the two countries in the fields of defense, politics, and humanitarian affairs.
Flight 752 of Ukraine International Airlines took off from the runway of “Imam Khomeini” Airport near Tehran on the morning of January 8, 2020, and shortly after takeoff, became the target of air defense missiles fired by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, killing all 176 people on board, some of whom held Canadian citizenship.
Iran says “human error” was the cause of this incident, but the governments of Canada and Ukraine have repeatedly accused officials of the Islamic Republic of covering up the incident and demanded complete information on this matter. Some families of the victims also say that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps “intentionally” targeted this aircraft, something the Islamic Republic has denied.
Meanwhile, the military prosecutor said it has issued summons for 10 people, but the families of the victims of this flight say that these 10 people are all “unknown individuals” and “arrest warrants have been issued to prevent prosecution of those responsible for and perpetrators of this crime, who are high-ranking government officials.”
According to the families, “lawyers’ attempts to review the case file, learn about the investigation methods, interrogations and defendants’ statements, and find their names have come to nothing.”
Also, the issue of paying compensation to the families remains unresolved. In June of this year, four countries—Canada, Britain, Sweden, and Ukraine—by forming a group led by Canada, called on Iran to begin formal negotiations regarding compensation to the survivors of victims of the Ukrainian aircraft, emphasizing that the Islamic Republic must accept its legal responsibility in this matter.
Iran’s cabinet had previously approved paying 150,000 dollars to Iranian and non-Iranian survivors of the victims of the downing of the Ukrainian aircraft, but many families had rejected this amount.
Source: Radio Farda
