RUSSIA: The relatives of those who died in the September 2004 Beslan school siege vowed to continue their campaign for justice last night after the sole surviving hostage taker was convicted on murder and terrorism charges and sentenced to life in prison.
The verdict on Nurpashi Kulayev (25), a Chechen carpenter, did little to satisfy relatives who saw hundreds of innocent people die in the bloody climax of the siege in the southern Russian town. Kulayev was found guilty of taking hostages, causing the deaths of 330 people and inflicting material damage worth 34 million roubles (€1 million).
The Beslan Mothers' Committee and other groups have consistently claimed that the terror inflicted by the gang of 32 militants was compounded by official bungling.
Families of the dead and injured were divided over whether Kulayev should have received the death penalty.
Rita Sidakova of the mothers' committee, who lost her daughter in the standoff, said she and other members of the group wanted to see Kulayev publicly executed in the centre of Beslan. "His heart did not fail him when they were torturing children or at any moment during the whole trial, so there is no chance he will repent [ in prison]," she said. Marina Melikova, another member of the group, said: "So many lives were ruined when people were herded like livestock into that gym. He didn't deserve to live." But Ella Kesayeva of the rival Voice of Beslan said Kulayev remained too valuable a witness to be killed. "Preserving Kulayev's life gives us hope that all circumstances of the terrorist act in Beslan sooner or later will be investigated," she said.
Kulayev, who appeared in footage from inside the school, said "these are all invented tales" when asked if he understood the verdict yesterday.
Judge Tamurlan Aguzarov told the court Kulayev deserved the death sentence but had escaped it because of a moratorium on capital punishment.
The security forces have denied accusations they used heavy weapons while hostages were alive in the building. - (Guardian service)