The United Kingdom, Canada, Sweden and Ukraine have launched a case against Iran at the United Nation’s highest court over the 2020 downing of a Ukrainian passenger jet killing all 176 on board.
“It’s been a long, arduous journey for these past 42 months because of our association with the families of the victims,” said spokesperson Kourosh Doustshenas of Winnipeg whose fiance died in the crash.
The countries want the International Court of Justice to rule that Iran illegally shot down the Ukraine International Airlines plane and to order Tehran to pay compensation to the families of the victims.
But for Doustshenas, the most important thing is to have some closure. “We need to know the truth and we need to see justice being done. And only then we may get a measure of closure in all our lives.”
“We have asked for the truth and justice first and foremost. And unfortunately, at the very beginning, we had to fight and say, look, we are not looking for compensation.”
The passengers and crew members killed included nationals and residents of Canada, Sweden, Ukraine and the United Kingdom, as well as Afghanistan and Iran. Following three days of denials in In January 2020, Iran said its paramilitary Revolutionary Guard mistakenly shot down the Ukrainian plane with two surface-to-air missiles.
— with files from The Canadian Press
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