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| Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia |
| Indictment released in Kulayev trial |
| 2006-05-23 |
| The Supreme Court of North Ossetia, Russia’s ethnic republic in the North Caucasus, continued to read the indictment in the case of Nurpasha Kulayev, the only surviving gunman who was involved in the attack on a secondary school in Beslan and mass hostage-taking in September 2004. The presiding judge, Tamerlan Aguzarov, read the testimony of each victim, making pauses from time to time. “It was established on the basis of Viziyev’s testimony that his wife worked as a mathematics teacher and went to the festive gathering on September 1. She was taken hostage and died as a result of the terrorist’ actions,” the judge said. His voice quivered as he pronounced the word “died” for almost the one-hundredth time in one day. During the break, the victims were saying among themselves, “Let them read on. Revenge is a cold dish.” In the middle of the day, the judge finished reading the testimonies of the victims and moved on to the testimonies of the witnesses. The first to be read were testimonies given by members of the crisis management headquarters. Former head of the Federal Security Service’s branch in North Ossetia, Valery Andreyev, said after reports about the hostage taking had been received, Operation Seizure was activated in order to free the people. Contact was established with the gunmen, who had put forth demands and threatened to slay the hostages if one of them were killed. “They acted quite harshly,” Andreyev said. Former North Ossetian President Alexander Dzasokhov, who was also at the headquarters, said, “The main goal was to rescue the children in the first place.” “We offered the gunmen a corridor for them to leave but they rejected this plan,” he said. The judge read the testimonies of other witnesses as well. The last to be read were the testimonies of law enforcers. About 30 of them were wounded during the crisis. The judge also read the testimony of an army serviceman who said he had been sent to the school on September 1, 2004 in order to take part in the operation to free the hostages and used RPG-26 and RPO-A grenade launchers. He fired at verified targets, namely at the attic of the school and then at the gunmen’s firing positions. He also fired a grenade launcher on the night of September 3 after the hostages were gone. The judge said the overall damage caused to the people’s flats and automobiles by shooting had amounted to about 5.5 million roubles. The indictment also included the testimony of a former North Ossetian education minister, who said that the children had been allowed not to go to school for security reasons. Teachers did not work for several days, too. The judge read the testimony given by paediatrician Leonid Roshal, who had participated in the negotiations with the terrorists. In his words, the terrorists rejected all offers of food and water for the hostages and declined to negotiate with the elders or their relatives. “The testimonies of the witnesses questioned are borne out by the fact that after taking hostages the gunmen sent over notes, in which they demanded that troops be withdrawn from Chechnya and put forth other anti-constitutional demands, as borne out by one of the notes passed over on behalf of Shamil Basayev to the president of Russia, as well as the video made in the school by the participants in the attack,” the judge said. He finished the day by reading the names of people who had died as a result of the hostage-taking crisis and who had been identified by their relatives. The hearings were then adjourned till May 23. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |