Church consecrated on site of Dubrovka theater massacre
Moscow (AsiaNews)
- The bells of the church dedicated to Saints Cyril and Methodius in Moscow rang
for the first time during the ceremony to commemorate the 130 victims of the
tragedy at Dubrovka theater. On
26 October, the 10th anniversary of the blitz in which the Russian special
forces ended a three days siege of the theater by a group of Chechen
terrorists, the church was consecrated in the presence of relatives of the killed
hostages.
On
23 October 2002, terrorists stormed the building, which was presenting the popular
musical 'Nord-Ost', taking 916 hostages, spectators and artists, including 100 children, demanding the withdrawal,
without any conditions, of Russian troops engaged in the second Chechen war. The
siege went on for three days, until the arrival of special forces. Most
of the hostages were freed, but the human cost was high: 130 deaths, according
to official figures, 174 according to independent associations. 39
terrorists were killed in the attack, including some women.
In
a Moscow wet from the first snow fall, about 200 relatives of the victims
gathered in the total absence of the authorities, to commemorate the tragic
event. Many
flowers and candles, and 130 balloons were launched into the air, after the
reading of the names and age of many victims. No
message from the Prime Minister Dmitri Medvedev, or the President Vladimir
Putin not even in those tragic days like today, at the head of the Kremlin. The
survivors, in tears in front of the theater, were not surprised: "In ten
years no one ever came to us, not even to express support, it's nothing
new."
For
the relatives of the victims, the main cause of the massacre was the inhalation
of a sleeping gas, released in the theater through the ventilation system to
facilitate the eruption of the SWAT team. Moscow
has always denied the charges, but refused to disclose the composition of the
substance classified as a "state secret." "Those
people died not for the effects of the gas, which was not harmful - Putin said,
after a few months, - but for various reasons such as dehydration and chronic
diseases", linked to the conditions in which they were held hostage. Poisoning
caused by the mysterious gas was crippling, at different levels, for many of
the 700 survivors.
In
December, the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg ordered Russia to
pay a total of 1.3 million Euros to 64
former hostages and relatives of victims who have had the strength to carry on
their legal battle. The
judges acknowledged that the Special Forces blitz was "legitimate",
but they pointed out some shortcomings in the organization of rescue
operations. So
now the victims' families are preparing an appeal to the EU to shed light on
the responsibilities of the authorities.
"It
seemed that no one could ever forget. But 10 years later, no one in Russia wants
to remember this tragedy," Moscow newspaper Bolshoi Gorod, wrote on its
website. It
then launched a series of questions that have remained unanswered: "Who
was the organizer and how did dozens of militants organize a terrorist attack
in the capital? Why was a raid decided and why did the hostages die?".
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14/02/2023 09:21
