Iran (IMNA) - The Iranian Judiciary's Mizan news agency said on Sunday that the court convicted ten persons guilty in the tragic event, with the primary offender sentenced to 13 years in jail and nine others receiving sentences ranging from one to three years.
According to Mizan, the key suspect is a defense system commander who "mistook" Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 (PS752/AUI752) for a cruise missile and fired the jet twice against the controlling center's orders.
The website continued by stating that the commander's decision to take the lead in shooting the jet down "was due to his ignorance of the situation and his misplaced belief that the discovered target was hostile."
The employees of the Army's air defense station are the other defendants who have been found guilty by the court.
Mizan emphasized that the verdict came after more than three years and 20 trial hearings in a lengthy judicial process in which 117 plaintiffs filed their lawsuits, 55 of the plaintiffs spoke and read out their complaints in court, and 20 lawyers represented the plaintiffs and presented their complaints and relevant evidence.
"Examining this case has been one of the most important, sensitive, and complex judicial processes in the last few years of the country," according to the Judiciary-affiliated website.
The preliminary judgment rendered in the case may be appealed within 20 days.
Mizan emphasized that a value of $150,000 USD, or its equivalent in Euros, has been considered as compensation for each victim of the unfortunate tragedy. These funds are independent of legal procedures and will be given to the victims' families.
On January 8, 2020, Ukraine International Airlines flight PS752, en route to Kiev and carrying largely Iranians, crashed minutes after takeoff near Tehran, killing all 176 people on board.
Iran's air defenses fired down the jet after mistaking it for a military target, escalating tensions between Tehran and Washington in the aftermath of the US death of respected Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani in Iraq days earlier.
Iran admitted days later that the primary human mistake that contributed to the tragedy was the operator's manipulation of an air defense unit's radar equipment.
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