Ten Iranian military personnel were sentenced today to prison terms ranging from one to 10 years for their role in the crash of a Ukrainian Boeing, which was shot down near Tehran in January 2020, the country’s judiciary agency announced.

The main defendant, the commander of the Tor M-1 air defense system, was sentenced to 10 years in prison for ignoring the orders of the hierarchy and shooting down the aircraft. The remaining nine were sentenced to terms ranging from one to three years in prison, according to Mizan Online.

The commander was the one who “launched two missiles against Ukrainian flight PS752” in violation of the orders and instructions he had received, the same source added.

The agency did not provide any details on the identity of those convicted. Among them were four air defense system officers, an air base commander and a control center official.

On January 8, 2020, the Iranian armed forces shot down the airliner flying from Tehran to Kiev, killing 176 people, most of them Iranians and Canadians. In November 2021, the judicial authorities announced that the trial had begun ten soldiers.

On the night of the tragedy, Iran’s air defense forces were on high alert. Tehran had just attacked a base used by the US military in Iraq in retaliation for the death five days earlier in a US strike in Baghdad of General Qassem Soleimani, the architect of Iran’s regional strategy. For this reason, the Iranian authorities expected a possible reaction from the US.