$150,000 Allocated for Families of Ukrainian Plane Crash Victims

EghtesadOnline: The Iranian Cabinet on Wednesday approved a bill to pay $150,000 or its equivalent in euros to the families of victims in the Ukrainian airliner accidentally shot down by Iran last year.

News ID: ۷۸۵۶۹۴

01 January 2021

Based on the directive, the Ministry of Roads and Urban Development has been tasked with making the arrangement for the payment in cooperation with other relevant organizations, IRNA reported, citing the vice presidency for legal affairs.

The bill mandates that the compensation would not upend criminal prosecution over the incident through qualified judicial authorities.

“The compensation for the fatalities should be paid without any discrimination on the grounds of nationality or citizenship and based on the enforceable regulations of the victims’ respective countries,” the document said.

The Ukraine International Airlines flight PS752 heading for Canada crashed on Jan. 8 after taking off from the Imam Khomeini airport, killing all 176 passengers and crew members on board. Most passengers on the plane were Canadian citizens or permanent residents.

Iranian armed forces later announced that the plane was accidentally shot down due to human error while the military was on high alert during a confrontation with the United States.

The Civil Aviation Organization of Iran released an interim report in July on the details of the accident, saying an air defense operator’s error in aligning a radar system and his lack of communication with commanders initiated a chain of hazards that led to the misidentification of the passenger plane for a military target.

Iran’s final report on the plane crash has been prepared and will soon be published.

After the accident, Iran and the beneficiary countries held several multilateral meetings in CAO and agreed on the payment of compensation.

The vice presidency for legal affairs has been pursuing the case since the early days to both pay respect to the victims and uphold the rights of their families.

The required funds were finally allocated in mid-December, before the anniversary of the tragic incident.

The vice presidency then set the legal framework and determined the amount of payment in accordance with international regulations and presented the relevant bill to the Cabinet, which was approved on Wednesday.

“Although the compensation does not relieve all the pain and suffering caused by the incident, the legal vice presidency hopes it could remind [Iran’s] commitment to defend the rights of all individuals and the honor of all human beings,” the document said.