"No one is pursuing transparency in the downing of the Ukrainian plane"

Several relatives of passengers on the plane that was shot down by IRGC missiles answered reporters' questions online. Their representative is scheduled to meet with Canada's foreign minister next week.

On Tuesday, May 26, several members of the "Association of Families of Flight PS752 Victims" answered reporters' questions in a live YouTube program after explaining the latest steps they have taken in relation to the December 18, 2019 air crash.

This Ukrainian airliner was shot down in Tehran on January 8th of last year after being hit by IRGC air defense missiles.

Officials of the Islamic Republic initially denied shooting down the plane and blamed a "technical fault" for the crash, but three days later, the General Staff of the Armed Forces claimed responsibility for the incident.

However, the detailed report on the investigation into this case has not yet been made public.

Of the 176 people who died on the Ukrainian plane, 138 were en route to Canada. The flight was carrying a large number of Iranian elites.

Where are the black boxes and the passengers' belongings?

The participants' statements (Hamed Esmailiou, Javad Soleimani, and Arash Tarbat) reflect the fact that, apart from the families of the victims, no government or organization is seriously pursuing transparency in this area.

Hamed Esmailiou, spokesman for the Association of Victims' Families, who lost his wife and 9-year-old son in the disaster, announced that he will meet with Canadian Foreign Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne next week and expressed hope that the Canadian government will make more efforts to "enforce justice" in this regard.

He emphasized that a large number of the passengers on the downed plane were Canadian citizens, and their families expect their government to help them clarify the situation.

In this regard, Ismaili stated: "We do not want financial damages, but rather transparency. We want to know the details of the incident: Did the incident occur due to human error? Why was the airspace open for passenger flights under those conditions? Why was our family's flight delayed? Who is to blame? Where is the black box? Where are the victims' clothes, passports, and wallets? We have not even received our engagement rings."

Pressure on the victims' families

According to participants at Tuesday's news conference, the Iranian government has pressured the families of the victims to keep them silent.

The Association of Families of the Victims is scheduled to publish a detailed report in the near future on the pressures the Iranian government has placed on these families.

Some participants in the online conference, who were family members of the victims, held placards that read: "We neither forgive nor forget."

A large number of comments also expressed solidarity with the relatives of the deceased.

According to some Iranian officials, the case of this air accident is in a military court, and for this reason, details of the investigation are not being published.

Shokrollah Bahrami, head of the Judicial Organization of the Iranian Armed Forces, has also said that one person is in custody in connection with this case and several others have been summoned as defendants.

Source: DW