Iran Charges Ten Officials for Downing Ukrainian Airliner

Tehran military prosecutor Gholamabbas Torki on Tuesday announced that ten Iranian officials were indicted over the downing of a Ukrainian airliner, an event in which 176 people were killed on Jan. 8, 2020.

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"A serious and accurate investigation was conducted and the indictment was issued for 10 culprits," Torki said although he did not provide details on the identity of the officials involved.

On January 8, 2020, a Boeing 737 of the Ukrainian International Airlines (UIA) was shot down with two missiles shortly after taking off from Tehran airport.

This tragedy created controversy because Iran denied that it had fired on the plane while Ukraine expressed suspicions that the downing was not accidental.

On March 17, Iran's Civil Aviation Organization issued a report blaming an air defense system operator for the downing of the aircraft.

A 105-degree error in the alignment of one of the air defense system units caused the aircraft to be identified as a threat. This confusion was followed by communication problems between the operator and the coordination center.

The Iranian Armed Forces were on high alert that day because they had carried out an attack on a military base in Iraq in revenge for the assassination of Iranian General Qasem Soleimaní. They were expecting a possible retaliatory action from Washington.

Iran approved a US$150,000 compensation for each of the 176 victims, among whom were 82 Iranians, 63 Canadians, and 11 Ukrainians.