Canada and its partners are turning to international law after Iran ended talks over restitution for families of victims involved in the downing of the Ukraine Airlines flight that killed 176 people two years ago.
• Read also: Flight PS752: the press conference of the families of the victims interrupted
• Read also: Theft PS752: Ontario court awards $ 107 million to bereaved families
After agreeing to start talks on July 30, 2020, Iran confirmed to the International Coordination and Intervention Group on December 27 “that it did not see the need to negotiate with the Group”, made up of Canada. , UK, Ukraine and Sweden.
“Despite all the efforts made over the past two years and the many attempts to resolve this issue through negotiation, the Coordination Group determined that it would be futile to attempt to negotiate with Iran on the issue of reparations for the destruction of flight PS752, ”the Group said in a statement released on Thursday.
“We will now focus on the steps to be taken to resolve this issue within the framework of international law.”
The states involved sought “full reparations” from Iran for the families of the victims and “fulfill its international legal obligations”, even if it “continues to evade them”.
“We will not tolerate this affront to the memory of the 176 innocent victims.”
The Group did not offer further details on its next actions in the case.
On January 8, 2020, Iranian military forces shot down a Ukrainian Airlines plane carrying 176 people, including 85 who had Canadian citizenship or residency. The incident took place against a backdrop of escalation between Iran and the United States, which had assassinated Army General Qassem Soleimani days earlier.
In its report of the events in March 2021, the Transportation Safety Board (TSB) estimated that not all light had been shed on the tragedy, and that the Iranian report “raised more questions than it brought forth. of responses ”.
The Iranian report explained that the missile fire was due to “misalignment of the missile launcher’s radar”, and that “the operator had not been authorized to fire senior officers, as he should have” .
Last Friday, the Ontario Superior Court awarded $ 107 million to five families of six victims of the attack in a lawsuit against Iran.
The virtual press conference of the family lawyers, held on Zoom, was interrupted by pornographic images and heavy metal music, just as one of the lawyers challenged the Supreme Leader of Iran to follow up on their case. request.
Even though lawyer Jonah Arnold has called the court’s decision “historic”, there is no guarantee that Iran will respond to the appeal.