The Ontario Court of Appeal has made a final ruling stating that the Ukrainian airline “International Airlines of Ukraine” (UIA) must fully compensate the families of those who died in the PS752 crash that occurred over Tehran.
This is reported by Kyiv24
Details of the Court Proceedings and UIA’s Responsibility
The court dismissed UIA’s appeal against a previous ruling that found the airline liable for compensating all affected parties. Additionally, the company is required to pay legal costs in favor of the defendants. As a result of the tragedy that occurred five years ago, 176 people lost their lives, including 11 Ukrainians – nine crew members and two passengers.
After the crash, the Iranian side initially insisted on the version of a technical malfunction of the aircraft; however, later, under pressure from international evidence, it acknowledged that the plane was mistakenly shot down by the military of the “Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.” The aircraft was struck by two missiles from the “Tor-M1” system supplied to Iran by Russia. At the same time, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine does not agree with the version of “human error” as the cause of the tragedy.
“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine does not consider the Iranian version that the downing of the aircraft occurred due to ‘human error’ to be truthful.”
International Law and Previous Court Decisions
According to international norms, the airline is obligated to pay each passenger up to $180,000 in the event of proven liability, and this amount can be increased if negligence on the part of the company is established. Last year, the Ontario court found that UIA had shown negligence by failing to conduct an appropriate risk assessment before departing from Tehran. Thus, the company lost the right to limit the amount of compensation to the families of the PS752 crash victims. The Court of Appeal upheld this decision.
Previously, the Supreme Court of Canada refused to consider a lawsuit from the relatives of the deceased regarding the confiscation of Iranian assets for the purpose of compensation, as it recognized these assets as the property of a sovereign state, which is not subject to the jurisdiction of national courts. Thus, the responsibility for compensation fell on the airline UIA.