Beslan inquiry accuses federal forces but pinpoints no one
The official inquiry talks of "errors" of the federal security forces, but it is not yet clear who triggered the carnage in the school. The Mothers of Beslan say the report does not answer their questions, but then, they did not expect it to.
Beslan (AsiaNews/Agencies) An official inquiry into the Beslan tragedy has charged that federal security forces made mistakes when they intervened against terrorists barricaded in the school in the North-Ossetian town. Yesterday, more than one year after the attack by Chechen commandoes, the parliament of North Ossetia presented its report,which took months of investigation. More than 1000 people were held hostage in the attack between 1 and 3 September 2004, which ended with 331 deaths.
MPs of Vladikavkaz are convinced that officials from special departments, who intervened after three days after the assault started, made mistakes. However they did not clarify the motive or who was responsible for the bloodbath which ended the kidnapping. According to the official death toll, 186 children died on the day of the blitz, as did all the terrorists save one, today on trial, Nur Pashi Kulayev. It is this surviving terrorist who insisted that the first explosion, which sparked the Russian blitz, went off when someone from outside shot at a terrorist who had an explosive attached; many survivors confirm this version of events. The public minister conducting the federal investigation, General Nikolai Shepel, admitted only recently and only after intense pressure from the victims' relatives, that flame-throwers had been used by Russian troops (this was previously denied). However he continues to insist grenades were not used and no tanks targeted their guns against the school. The president of the inquiry conducted by the North Ossetian Parliament, Stanislav Kesayev, said that during the battle against the terrorist commandoes, which lasted for hours, the security forces used not only flame-throwers but also grenade launchers and even an armoured tank. Whether these arms were used and their use in areas inhabited by civilians is forbidden by the Geneva Conventions when the hostages were still inside the School No. 1, was not made clear. Kesayev said another mistake made by the Russian security forces, was that they "did not realise" that such a large number of armed militants were heading for Beslan (more than 30) and hence they did not stop them.
Shepel did not comment on yesterday's report, limiting himself to announcing that his inquiry will press ahead at least until the end of March 2006. Ella Kesayeva, one of the representatives of the Committee of the Mothers of Beslan, immediately hit out at the report from North Ossetia: "They did not answer the main question: who is guilty of the death of our children? The report is extremely cautious but I cannot condemn Kesayev what could he do?" The woman said Kesayev would have received pressure from elements in the central government to "soften" his report. And she wondered, referring to the Russian President, Vladimir Putin: "Isn't he guilty of anything?"
Another report, that of the Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry of Moscow's federal parliament, is expected on 28 December; it will supply the official version of the attack carried out by Chechens loyal to the leader Basayev.
On 2 September, during the first meeting Putin had with the Mothers of Beslan, he promised to "want to shed light on the event and to discover the truth".
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