Two Class Action Lawsuits Filed by Families of Ukrainian Airliner Victims Against Iran

Eight months after the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ missile attack on the Ukrainian commercial aircraft, two class action lawsuits against Iran have been filed. In the air defense attack by the IRGC on the aforementioned aircraft, 176 people were killed. A number of the victims were Canadian.

The Canadian government has announced that two class action lawsuits filed by two law firms have been delivered to Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Canadian newspaper “National Post” has reported on the filing of these two class action lawsuits. The matter concerns the complaint of relatives of victims of the Ukrainian commercial aircraft that was shot down by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

A number of the victims of this aircraft were Iranian-Canadian citizens. As a result of the IRGC’s missile attack on the Ukrainian commercial aircraft on the eighth of January of this year, all 176 passengers on the aircraft lost their lives.

Delay in Delivering the Complaints

It is said that both complaints were prepared by two Canadian law firms shortly after the Ukrainian aircraft was shot down.

The delay in sending these two complaints by the Canadian government to the Islamic Republic’s officials raised speculation that the Canadian government had possibly shirked its responsibility for political reasons.

However, the Canadian government has clarified that the cause of this delay was not political and was due to the spread of the coronavirus and its impact on legal proceedings. The Canadian government has now officially announced that it has delivered both class action lawsuits to Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Mark Arnold is representing one of the class action lawsuits. In an interview with Canadian radio broadcaster “CBC,” he stated that families of victims of the IRGC’s missile attack on the Ukrainian aircraft can now file complaints against the Islamic Republic’s government regarding this “terrorist act.”

Mark Arnold said: “In my opinion, what happened was a terrorist act.” Arnold has emphasized that despite the case being filed in January, the Canadian government has not provided sufficient information regarding the level of progress in its legal proceedings.

This Canadian lawyer said: “It is pleasing that the Canadian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, after having these complaints in its possession for eight months, has finally delivered them.”

Michael Campbell, director of the criminal and security law and diplomatic rights division at Canada’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, announced on September 1st by sending a letter that the complaints have been delivered to the relevant officials at Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Addressing the Complaints

Mark Arnold has also announced that a copy of these complaints has been sent to Ali Khamenei’s email address and Khamenei’s office has confirmed receipt of it.

The delivery of the class action complaints to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Iran took place several days after Iranian authorities announced their readiness to review the complaints and pay compensation to the victims of this missile attack.

It is said that both class action complaints (Arnold’s complaint and the Tom Arnett law office complaint) are being pursued independently of negotiations between representatives of the relevant countries regarding compensation and damages.

Also, in October, a decision is expected to be made regarding the legal proceedings of these two class action lawsuits. A law firm is expected to take on the task of pursuing these class action suits.

Source: DW