Ukraine, Canada, Sweden, UK filing International Court of Justice lawsuit against Iran for plane downed in 2020

MOSCOW. June 30 (Interfax) - Ukraine and other members of the International Coordination Group are filing a lawsuit with the International Court of Justice of the United Nations against Iran for its downing of the Flight PS752 plane of the Ukraine International Airlines on January 8, 2020.

"We, the members of the International Coordination and Response Group for the victims of Flight PS752 representing Canada, Sweden, Ukraine and the United Kingdom, note that no agreement on the organization of arbitration was reached between Iran and the Coordination Group pursuant to Article 14 of the Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Civil Aviation," Ukrainian media outlets said, citing the group's joint statement released by the press service of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry.

Therefore, the Coordination Group intends to pursue our collective effort to ensure Iran is held accountable for the unlawful downing of Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 by referring the dispute to the International Court of Justice as soon as possible.

As reported, the Ukraine International Airlines' Boeing 737-800 performing the flight PS752 from Tehran to Kiev was downed in the vicinity of the Imam Khomeini International Airport immediately after taking off early on January 8, 2020. None of the 167 passengers and nine crewmembers onboard survived the crash. The victims include 11 citizens of Ukraine, including the nine crewmembers, 82 citizens of Iran, 63 of Canada, ten of Sweden, four of Afghanistan, and three of Germany and the UK each.

On January 11, the Iranian authorities admitted that the Boeing was downed by the Iranian military by mistake. Later, Commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' Aerospace Forces Amir Ali Hajizadeh assumed full responsibility for the Ukrainian plane's crash.