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| Europe |
| Ten years later, European court studies Beslan siege |
| 2014-10-15 |
| A decade on, survivors and families of victims of the Beslan school siege have asked European justice officials to examine the extent of Moscow's responsibility for the bloody outcome. The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) heard accusations from more than 400 Russians seeking clarifications about the incident in which pro-Chechen militants stormed a school in North Ossetia on September 1, 2004. The ordeal left more than 330 dead, including 186 children, and some 750 wounded. The court is treating all petitions made between 2007 and 2011 as a single case. Twenty of the claimants, mainly women, made the journey to Strasbourg to attend the hearing before seven judges. Aneta Gadiyeva showed a photo of the daughter she lost in the slaughter. "She would be almost 20 today," she said. Gadiyeva was among the hostages but was released with her other daughter, who was just one at the time. She said, "I think the government wanted to kill the terrorists above everything. They didn’t think of our children." The authorities said they had been faced with a group of armed mercenaries and that their primary concern was to save the lives of the hostages. But the defendants' lawyers said the authorities had been mainly seeking to eliminate the attackers. British lawyer Jessica Gavron said, "Both tanks and flame-throwers were used while hostages were in the building. The government has provided no adequate explanation as to the need of these indiscriminate combat weapons." Russian officials have maintained that the first explosions were provoked by the hostage takers. Their lawyer, Gorgy Matyushkin, also said that the rapid cleansing of the site after the operation "had no consequences" on the investigations. The claimants' lawyers have particularly criticized the absence of in-depth autopsies on the bodies of 116 victims found burned in the gymnasium. |
| Posted by:ryuge |
| #8 "Both tanks and flame-throwers were used while hostages were in the building" What - no gas? |
| Posted by: Pappy 2014-10-15 21:40 |
| #7 Plus, these bad boys (and girls) had the place wired with explosives. It was a bad situation however you look at it. |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2014-10-15 19:00 |
| #6 I have no doubt Russian security forces did a bad job at Beslan, but I doubt any counter terrorism unit could have saved everybody. Too many terrorists and too many hostages. |
| Posted by: Chantry 2014-10-15 18:42 |
| #5 Both Beslan and Nord-Ost were bad situations from the get-go. The Russians made the best of a bad hand. Outcome could have been much, much worse. To second guess them at this point is just spineless. |
| Posted by: SteveS 2014-10-15 17:12 |
| #4 How did I know it would be nothing to do with the fecking muzzies? You been following Israeli-Palestinian conflict for the last two generations? |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2014-10-15 12:28 |
| #3 > Moscow's responsibility for the bloody outcome How did I know it would be nothing to do with the fecking muzzies? |
| Posted by: Bright Pebbles 2014-10-15 08:36 |
| #2 Wouldn't it be more appropraieta to ask for reparations from the conutry that spawned the monstruous and muderous ideology of Islam? To the peopel who miudred and raped, child raped, instead of to the rescuers? |
| Posted by: JFM 2014-10-15 07:10 |
| #1 The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) heard accusations from more than 400 Russians seeking clarifications about the incident in which pro-Chechen militants stormed a school in North Ossetia on September 1, 2004. The ordeal left more than 330 dead, including 186 children, and some 750 wounded. Clarification: There was no guarantee anyone would survive. Secondly and most importantly, the terrorists involved will never kill again. It's long over. Go back to your lovely Strasbourg hotel, enjoy a nice dinner, and a therapeutic walk through the old city. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2014-10-15 03:26 |