(Ottawa) Hackers derailed a virtual press conference on Tuesday from lawyers and family members of victims of the crash of a Ukrainian airliner shot down by the Iranian military almost two years ago. to the day.
Relatives and their lawyers had started a virtual press conference to discuss the court ruling released on Monday, which awarded them millions of dollars in damages.
The Ontario Superior Court awarded more than $ 107 million to the families of six victims of the crash of Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752, shot down by the Iranian military, with its passengers on board, on January 8, 2020. Lawyers Mark Arnold and Jonah Arnold on Monday called the decision “unprecedented” in Canadian history.
Me Arnold did not want to disclose how he plans to get this sum from the Iranian government, but said his team knows where Iranian assets are located in Canada and abroad.
The lawyer launched Tuesday at a virtual press briefing that “if someone from the Islamic Republic of Iran participates in this call, if the Supreme Leader participates in this call”, the lawyers will know how to find their assets.
Moments later, the press conference on the Zoom platform was bypassed by heavy metal music and pornographic images, for nearly three minutes, before the lawyers cut off the communication.
“A terrorist act”
The Ontario judgment released on Monday follows a ruling last May that concluded that Iranian missile fire was an act of intentional terrorism, paving the way for the families of the victims to seek compensation from Tehran.
Justice Edward Belobaba of the Ontario Superior Court held, on a balance of probabilities in civil law, that the missiles that downed the Boeing were fired deliberately at a time when there was no armed conflict in the region. Consequently, the judge considered that it was a terrorist act, which would invalidate the immunity that Iran could have enjoyed against any civil lawsuit.
While State Immunity Act protects foreign states against civil lawsuits, An Act to deter acts of terrorism against Canada and Canadians, for its part, provides for an exception in the event that the damages claimed are the result of a terrorist act.
More than 100 of the 176 people killed in the January 8, 2020 tragedy had ties to Canada, including 55 Canadian citizens and 30 permanent residents.
Judge Belobaba awarded $ 7 million in compensatory damages and $ 100 million in punitive damages, plus interest, to family members who had taken the matter to court.