Main Accused in PS752 Downing Case Freed, Four years After Tragedy

Four years after the downing of a Ukrainian airliner that killed 176 people near Tehran, grief and the pursuit of justice remain central to the lives of the victims' families and their supporters worldwide.

Commemorations were held in various cities on January 7, including Toronto, Montreal, London, Paris, Berlin, Washington, and even at Shahedshahr, where Ukraine International Airlines flight PS752 crashed after being shot down by Iran’s air defenses.

In April last year, 10 members of the armed forces were sentenced to prison on charges of involvement in the tragedy that unfolded on January 8, 2020.

A lawyer representing victims' families announced that the main defendant in the case was released after serving half of his sentence. 

In Toronto, some families lit candles and placed flowers on the victims’ graves, vowing to continue their fight for justice. 

Social media users globally honored the victims using the hashtag "I will also light a candle."

Flight 752 was hit by two missiles fired by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Forces (IRGC) amid heightened tension with the United States over the US drone assassination of top IRGC general Qasem Soleimani near Baghdad. 

The Iranian authorities attributed the incident to an "unintentional human error."