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| Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia |
| 4 sentenced in Chechnya |
| 2006-02-02 |
| A southern Russian court on Wednesday handed 17-year prison sentences to four alleged rebels who had been accused of being on standby to take hostages in a second school if the Beslan school seizure had been foiled. Thirty-two heavily-armed rebels demanding that Russian troops withdraw from the nearby breakaway province of Chechnya attacked Beslan's School No. 1, taking more than 1,100 children, parents and staff hostage. Some 330 victims were killed, along with all but one of the attackers. The only surviving attacker is currently on trial. Prosecutors said Chechen rebel warlord Shamil Basayev had prepared a reserve plan to seize hostages at a school in the Ingush village of Nesterovskaya if the Sept. 1, 2004, raid in nearby Beslan had failed. But the jury did not agree that the four men on trial in Ingushetia's Supreme Court had been members of the group, and they were convicted on charges of banditry, participating in illegal military groups, terrorism and attempts on the lives of military and law enforcement officials. All four had pleaded not guilty to the charges. Meanwhile, police killed an alleged militant in Chechnya early Wednesday when police stopped his car for a document check and he tried unsuccessfully to detonate a grenade, the regional Interior Ministry said. Two passengers in the car escaped. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #1 "Being on Standby" always sucks. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2006-02-02 15:13 |