Ontario Supreme Court: Shooting of Ukrainian plane was intentional

The Ontario Superior Court in Canada, in a lawsuit filed by relatives of passengers on Flight 752, has deemed the shooting down of the Ukrainian plane “deliberate and a terrorist act.” The four plaintiffs in the case have accused Ali Khamenei and the commanders of the Revolutionary Guard and the army.

In a ruling issued on Thursday, May 20, Ontario Superior Court Justice Edward Bilobaba ruled that the shooting down of Flight PS752 was intentional and called the act “terrorist” under criminal law.

This ruling was issued in response to an individual complaint filed by four relatives of the flight passengers against Islamic Republic officials.

Hamed Esmailiyon, who lost his wife and daughter in the plane crash, has announced that the plaintiffs will soon hold a press conference and make the details public.

Shahin Moghadam, Shakiba Faqahati's husband and Rastin Moghadam's father, Mehrzad Zarei, Arad Zarei's father, Ali Gorji, Puneh Gorji's uncle, and another family member who wishes to remain anonymous are the four plaintiffs in this case.

In their complaint, they accused the Islamic Republic, the Revolutionary Guard Corps, Ali Khamenei, and four military and IRGC commanders, including Mohammad Hossein Baqeri, Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces, Hossein Salami, Commander-in-Chief of the IRGC, Abdolrahim Mousavi, Commander-in-Chief of the Army, and Amir Ali Hajizadeh, Commander-in-Chief of the IRGC Aerospace Force.

Flight PS 752 from Tehran to Kyiv was shot down by two IRGC anti-aircraft missiles minutes after takeoff on January 8, 2019. All 176 passengers and crew on board were killed.

The Islamic Republic concealed the truth for three days, claiming that the plane had a technical defect. After acknowledging the incident, the responsible authorities have consistently claimed that the problem was caused by human error and improper adjustment of the defense system.

The families of the victims do not accept this claim and demand the identification and prosecution of the perpetrators of the incident. In their latest rally in front of the Armed Forces Judicial Organization, they submitted a petition to the prosecution for criminal charges against Ali Shamkhani, Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, Hossein Salami, Commander-in-Chief of the Revolutionary Guards, and Mohammad Hossein Bagheri, Chief of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Source: DW