Iran prosecutor says 10 indicted for 2020 plane shootdown
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Tehran military prosecutor Gholamabbas Torki made the comment Tuesday while handing over his office to Nasser Seraj.
The semiofficial ISNA news agency and the Iranian judiciary’s Mizan new agency both reported the remarks, without elaborating.
Following three days of denial in January 2020 in the face of mounting evidence, Iran finally acknowledged that its forces mistakenly downed the Ukrainian jetliner with two surface-to-air missiles. In preliminary reports on the disaster last year, Iranian authorities blamed an air defence operator who they said mistook the Boeing 737-800 for an American cruise missile.
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DUBAI, United Arab Emirates
Ten officials have been indicted in Iran over the 2020 military shootdown of a Ukrainian passenger plane, which killed 176 people, a prosecutor said Tuesday.
The announcement came as Tehran was about to begin indirect negotiations with the U.S. over Washington’s possible reentry into the nuclear deal that Iran struck with world powers. The indictments also follow withering international criticism last month of Iran’s final report into the downing of Ukraine International Airlines Flight PS752, which blamed human error but named no one responsible.
Outgoing Iranian military prosecutor Gholamabbas Torki similarly avoided identifying those responsible when he announced the indictments Tuesday while handing over his office to Nasser Seraj. The semi-official ISNA news agency and the Iranian judiciary’s Mizan news agency both reported his remarks.
The indictment of the case of the Ukrainian plane was also issued and a serious and accurate investigation was carried out and indictments were issued for 10 people who were at fault, Mizan quoted Torki as saying, without elaborating.
Following three days of denial in January 2020 in the face of mounting evidence, Iran finally acknowledged that its paramilitary Revolutionary Guard mistakenly downed the Ukrainian jetliner with two surface-to-air missiles. In preliminary reports on the disaster last year, Iranian authorities blamed an air defence operator who they said mistook the Boeing 737-800 for an American cruise missile.
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