The families of victims aboard a Ukrainian flight that was shot down by Iran in 2020 called on the International Criminal Court to investigate the case as a war crime or crime against humanity.

Lawyers representing families said on Wednesday that the Association of Families of Flight PS752 Victims submitted an Article 15 Communication to Office of the Prosecutor of the ICC, providing information and evidence about crimes that occurred when Iranian missiles brought down Ukraine International Airlines Flight PS752.

The request was submitted in accordance with Article 15 of the Rome Statute, alleging that perpetrators have committed certain war crimes and crimes against humanity against the passengers and crew of flight PS752 and their surviving family members, including the war crimes of willful killing, intentionally directing attacks against the civilian population or civilian objects, outrages upon personal dignity and pillage, as well as other inhumane acts.

"The affected countries -- especially Canada -- have acted with a glacial pace that has been marred by bureaucracy and a wishful thinking attitude toward a meaningful negotiation with the Islamic Republic of Iran," said spokesperson for the association representing the families, Hamed Esmaeilion, whose wife and nine-year-old daughter died onboard the flight.

The airliner was shot down by two air-defense missiles fired by the IRGC on January 8, 2020, as it took off from Tehran’s Imam Khomeini International Airport. Only hours earlier, the IRGC had fired more than a dozen missiles at Iraqi bases hosting US and coalition troops in retaliation for the killing of the IRGC Qods Force Commander Ghasem Soleimani who was killed in Baghdad by a US drone strike just five days earlier.