Probe into UIA plane crash in Iran could take more than five years - Yenin

Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister Yevhenii Yenin has said that the investigation into the downing of a Ukraine International Airlines (UIA) passenger jet in Iran could take up to five years if international courts are involved.

Yenin said this in an interview with the Censor.Net online news site.

"I definitely would not like to name any timelines, although I understand perfectly well that society is waiting for the result. To a large extent, everything depends on the political will of the Iranian side. If we look at a similar practice of investigations into other plane crashes, for example, the situation with the downing of a Russian plane over the Black Sea on board which were citizens of Russia and Israel, the settlement process lasted about two years. If we talk about the possibility of using international courts, the lower bar starts at five years," Yenin said.

However, he confirmed that the situation could be resolved before trial.

On January 8, 2020, Ukraine International Airlines Flight PS752 was shot down near Tehran by an Iranian surface-to-air missile, killing 176 people, including nine crew members (all Ukrainians) and 167 passengers (citizens of Ukraine, Iran, Canada, Sweden, Afghanistan, Germany, and the UK).

On July 18, France's Civil Aviation Safety Investigation Authority (BEA) received Flight PS752’s recorders from Iran. Yenin said that the transcript from Flight PS752's recorders had confirmed illegal interference with the plane.

Negotiations on compensation for the downing of Flight PS752 took place in Kyiv on July 30 with the participation of the Iranian delegation.

Ukraine's Prosecutor General's Office announced on July 31 that the next round of talks with Iran on the investigation into the plane crash was scheduled for October.

op