Translated material
Just a bandit
Beslan attack participant cleared of terrorism charges
Russia's Supreme Court yesterday upheld the sentence of the only surviving participant in the Beslan school attack in September 2004, Nurpasha Kulaev, who was sentenced to life imprisonment in a special regime colony. His punishment remained the same, but charges were included in the wording of the sentence. From the list of charges for which Kulaev was found guilty on May 16 of this year by the Supreme Court of North Ossetia, Art. 205 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (terrorism). In addition, the Supreme Court issued a special ruling to the Prosecutor General's Office regarding violations of the law committed during the investigation of this case. What exactly we are talking about remained unclear yesterday, since the cassation instance announced only the operative part of its decision. However, as of yesterday, Kulaev’s sentence finally came into force.As for the removal of terrorism charges against Kulaev, as prosecutor Irina Khorlina explained after the meeting, this was a purely technical decision. The fact is that on July 27 of this year, from the wording of Art. 205 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, the element of a crime “for the purpose of violating public safety” was excluded. And, given the circumstances of Kulaev’s case, this article could no longer be imputed to him in the new “form”. However, this could not have any effect on Kulaev’s fate. Previously, he was found guilty under eight articles of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, including murder, hostage-taking, banditry, kidnapping, encroachment on the lives of law enforcement officers, etc. The court also found that the convicted person “voluntarily, and not under duress” participated in an armed gang with the specific purpose of “committing acts of terrorism, putting pressure on the state and taking hostages.” The court also considered it proven that Kulaev, during his entire stay at school, repeatedly used violence against hostages and used weapons.
The main news was the Supreme Court's issuance of a private ruling addressed to Prosecutor General Yuri Chaika regarding violation of the law during the investigation by former Deputy Prosecutor General Nikolai Shepel, who oversaw this case. Apparently, the judges listened to the complaints of victims who were dissatisfied with the progress of the investigation into the Kulaev case, which was separated from the “general” case of the Beslan tragedy. But, despite this, the victims from “Voice of Beslan” were still dissatisfied with the verdict, and after receiving the ruling from the Supreme Court, they intend to appeal to the European Court of Human Rights.
Both his lawyer Albert Pliev and some of the victims from the “Voice of Beslan” committee insisted on reviewing the sentence of Kulaev , who until recently was considered the only surviving participant in the attack on the Beslan school. Thus, in his complaint, Mr. Pliev noted that his client’s involvement in the terrorist attack had not been proven, and asked to send the case for a new trial. Relatives of the victims insisted on the overturning of Kulaev's sentence, demanding a more thorough investigation .
Having lost her entire family - two sons and a husband - Emma Tagaeva, who specially came to the Supreme Court, said that she was not sure that “due to her moral and physical condition” she would live to see the trial of the main case on the Beslan tragedy. And Emilia Bzarova, who lost her son at school, was indignant at why the experts did not give her a clear answer as to why her child died. “Why should I believe the experts that he didn’t burn alive? - the woman was indignant. - And why did members of the operational headquarters and other government officials lie to us that there were only 354 people in the school? Indeed, because of this inaccuracy, many hostages simply died after they were pulled out of the school. It was thanks to this mythical figure that proper medical care was not provided, there was not enough equipment - ambulances, or beds in hospitals."
Former hostage Svetlana Margieva, whose only daughter died in her arms at school, had difficulty remembering those terrible three days, and the presiding officer invited the woman to sit down and drink water. “When the militants heard on TV that there were only 354 people hostage, they immediately said that the Russian authorities were not going to discuss with them the demands put forward for the withdrawal of all federal troops from Chechnya,” Ms. Margieva said. “Then the militants promised to increase the number of hostages, and there were more than a thousand of us, to 354, since no one needed us.” And my dead daughter kept whispering: “Mommy, Putin will help us. He will save us." But in the end my child died.” According to Ms. Margieva, not all the testimony that the hostages voiced at the trial was recorded in the protocols. The victims still do not agree that there were only 32 militants in the school. “I saw it with my own eyes, I was there,” said Svetlana Margieva, “there were not 32 of them, as they are trying to convince us, but twice as many.”
The judges of the Supreme Court deliberated for two hours and ultimately came to the conclusion that the sentence to Kulaev, passed by the Chairman of the Supreme Court of the RSO Alania Tamerlan Aguzarov in May of this year, was justified, and they refused to satisfy the complaints of both parties.
“Justice was served,” said Voice of Beslan leader Ella Kesaeva after the decision was announced, “but justice did not prevail. The whole world knows that in this case, in addition to terrorists, the security forces, whom our government has been covering up for two years, are also to blame. We will still achieve the truth, we will not give up. And our next step is Strasbourg.”