This article was originally published by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and is reprinted with permission.
Ukraine International Airlines (UIA) has filed a lawsuit against the Islamic republic over the 2020 shooting down of a Ukrainian passenger jet by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC).
The lawsuit, seen by Radio Farda, filed in a court in Ontario, is dated January 2022. It lists the Islamic Republic of Iran and the IRGC as the two defendants and demands compensation from Iran.
UIA flight PS752 crashed on January 8, 2020, while en route to Kyiv, killing all 176 people on board.
After days of official denials, Iran admitted that an IRGC unit had inadvertently shot down the plane amid heightened tensions with the United States over the U.S. drone assassination of a top IRGC commander, Qasem Soleimani, near Baghdad.
Most of the victims were Iranians and Canadians but 11 were citizens of Ukraine. The families have demanded transparency and accountability.
The Iranian government has allocated $150,000 to compensate the family of each passenger, but some families have refused the money.
Canada said last year that it found no evidence of premeditation in the downing of the airliner. A Canadian court awarded $84 million and interest to the families of six of the victims.
On June 28, the Group of Seven industrialized economies, at the end of their three-day summit in southern Germany, said in a joint statement that Iran should be held accountable for the shooting down of flight PS752.
“We continue to support international efforts to hold Iran accountable for the illegal downing of Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752”, the statement said.
