Military Prosecutor’s Report on Ukrainian Plane: It Was Avoidable, Only One Person in Custody
On the anniversary of the shooting down of a passenger plane by the Revolutionary Guard, Tehran’s military prosecutor on Thursday, December 9, announced the end of investigations into the incident, called it avoidable, and stated that only one person is in custody in connection with it.
He announced the completion of “reviews by seven groups of military experts and the National Aviation Organization regarding various hypotheses about the causes of the accident” involving the Ukrainian plane in Tehran’s suburbs.
According to IRNA news agency, Gholamabbas Torki said regarding the results of this investigation that the commander of the air defense system that targeted the passenger plane made a “gross” error in determining the north direction in his radar guidance.
He said: “The air defense system, after the last tactical repositioning, does not adjust the system’s north position due to forgetfulness, and for this reason, targets are observed on the radar screen with a gross change in position.”
Tehran’s military prosecutor added: “When they try to get instructions from the air defense network, due to lack of communication and message exchange, the commander, believing there is little time to deal with the threat, personally decides to fire.”
This judicial official concluded that “despite the difficulty of decision-making due to the conditions prevailing on the night of the incident, if the operator and the system commander had exercised the necessary care, this incident would not have happened.”
These claims are being made while many observers view the hypothesis that the shooting was “accidental” with skepticism. Canada’s foreign minister has also previously said he does not believe the reason for firing the missile was human error.
The Revolutionary Guard shot down a Ukrainian passenger plane with flight number PS752 on the morning of December 9 as it was taking off from Imam Khomeini Airport in Tehran by firing at least two missiles, killing all 176 people on board.
After three days of concealment, the Revolutionary Guard ultimately confessed under international pressure that the plane was shot down by its missiles, but claimed the reason was “human error.” The main commanders of the shooting have not yet been identified.
In this regard, Tehran’s military prosecutor said on Thursday that “in the investigation process, individuals were identified as perpetrators for negligence and carelessness and failure to comply with military regulations and rules, and currently only one defendant is in custody and others have been released on bail and other appropriate measures.”
According to Tehran’s military prosecutor, the hypotheses of cyber attack, hacking of the air defense system, interference with aircraft and air defense network systems have been “rejected with convincing reasons.”
Iranian officials, including Tehran’s military prosecutor, have so far refrained from providing any evidence and documents to confirm their claims, and therefore verification of these claims is not possible.
On the first anniversary of Flight 752 being shot down by the Revolutionary Guard, Iran’s president said on Thursday morning that “this incident was an incredible accident that resulted from one person’s error and the poor judgment of a group,” but he did not explain what exactly he meant by “the poor judgment of a group.”
The Islamic Republic’s cover-up, numerous contradictions, and multiple false claims by various Iranian government officials, including Revolutionary Guard commanders, government officials, and the judiciary, have caused many to seriously doubt the veracity of the Islamic Republic’s claims.
Among the dead are dozens of foreign nationals from Canada, Afghanistan, Britain, and Ukraine, and Iran has not yet provided a comprehensive report to these countries about why this flight was targeted.
Gholamabbas Torki on Thursday announced the “finalization” of the report from the expert groups in this case and added that the National Aviation Organization’s report has been sent to the relevant countries.
Ukraine’s foreign minister confirmed on Tuesday of this week that Iran, before the expiration of the 12-month deadline it had to submit a technical report on this accident, submitted the technical report draft to Ukraine on December 31.
Nevertheless, the official handling the Flight 752 crash case in Ukraine said on Wednesday, December 8, in an interview with Radio Farda that his country is now awaiting the identification and prosecution of the “real culprits” of shooting down this plane and the announcement of the “real reasons” for this incident by the Islamic Republic government.
