Background Edit

North Ossetia–Alania on a map of Russia School № 1 was one of seven schools in Beslan, a town of around 35,000 people in the republic of North Ossetia–Alania, in Russia's Caucasus. The school, located next to the district police station, had around 60 teachers and more than 800 students.[16] Its gymnasium, where most of the hostages were held for 52 hours, was a recent addition, measuring 10 metres wide and 25 metres long.[17] There were reports that men disguised as repairmen had concealed weapons and explosives in the school sometime during July 2004, something the authorities later denied. However, several witnesses have since testified they were made to help their captors remove the weapons from the caches hidden in the school.[18][19] There were also claims that a "sniper's nest" on the sports hall roof had been set up in advance.[20]

Course of the crisis Edit

Aftermath Edit

A Beslan mother at the cemetery for the siege victims in 2006 After the conclusion of the crisis, many of the injured died in the only hospital in Beslan, which was highly unprepared to cope with the casualties, before the patients were sent to better-equipped facilities in Vladikavkaz.[100] There was an inadequate supply of hospital beds, medication, and neurosurgery equipment.[101] Relatives were not allowed to visit hospitals where the wounded were treated, and doctors were not allowed to use their mobile phones.[102][103] The day after the storming, bulldozers gathered the debris of the building, including the body parts of the victims, and removed it to a garbage dump.[7][11] The first of the many funerals were conducted on 4 September, the day after the final assault, with more following soon after, including mass burials of 120 people.[104] The local cemetery was too small and had to be expanded to an adjacent plot of land to accommodate the dead. Three days after the siege, 180 people were still missing.[105] Many survivors remained severely traumatized and at least one female former hostage committed suicide after returning home.[106] Russian President Vladimir Putin reappeared publicly during a hurried trip to the Beslan hospital in the early hours of 4 September to see several of the wounded victims in his only visit to Beslan.[107] He was later criticised for not meeting the families of victims.[98] After returning to Moscow, he ordered a two-day period of national mourning on 6 – 7 September 2004. In his televised speech Putin says "We showed ourselves to be weak. And the weak get beaten."[40] On the second day of mourning, an estimated 135,000 people joined a government-organised rally against terrorism on the Red Square in Moscow.[108] An estimated 40,000 people gathered in Saint Petersburg's Palace Square.[109] Increased security measures were introduced to Russian cities after the crisis. More than 10,000 people without proper documents were detained by Moscow police in a "terrorist hunt". Colonel Magomed Tolboyev, a cosmonaut and Hero of the Russian Federation, was attacked by three insubordinate Moscow policemen who beat him because of his Chechen name. The policemen were later apprehended. [110] The Russian public appeared to be generally supportive of increased security measures. A 16 September 2004 Levada-Center opinion poll found 58% of Russians supporting stricter counter-terrorism laws and the death penalty for terrorism, while 33% would support banning all Chechens from entering Russian cities.[111][112] Long-term effects Edit In the wake of Beslan, the government proceeded to toughen laws on terrorism and expand the powers of law enforcement agencies.[9] In addition, Vladimir Putin signed a law which replaced the direct election of the heads of the federal subjects of Russia with a system whereby they are proposed by the President of Russia and approved or disapproved by the elected legislative bodies of the federal subjects.[113] The election system for the Russian parliament was also repeatedly amended, eliminating the election of State Duma members by single-mandate districts.[114] The Kremlin consolidated its control over the Russian media and increasingly attacked the non-governmental organizations (especially those foreign-founded).[115] The raid on Beslan had more to do with the Ingush involved than the Chechens, but was highly symbolic for both nations. The Ossetes and Ingush had (and have) a conflict over ownership of the Prigorodny District, which hit high points during the 1944 Stalinist purges, and the ethnic cleansing of Ingush by Ossetes (the Ossetes getting assistance from the Russian military) in 1992-3. At the time of the raid, there were still over 40,000 Ingush refugees in tent camps in Ingushetia and Chechnya.[116] The Beslan school itself had been used against the Ingush, as in 1992 the gym was used as a pen to round up Ingush during the ethnic cleansing by the Ossetes. For the Chechens, the motive was revenge for the destruction of their homes and, indeed families: Beslan was one of the sites from which federal air raids were launched at Chechnya.[117][118] Once it was broadcast that there were large numbers of children killed by a group that included Chechens, the Chechens were struck with a large amount of shame. One spokesman for the Chechen independence cause stated, "Such a bigger blow could not be dealt upon us...People around the world will think that Chechens are monsters if they could attack children".[119]

Casualties Edit

By 7 September 2004, Russian officials stated that 334 people had died, including 156 children; at that point 200 people remained missing or unidentified.[120] The Torshin report stated that ultimately no bodies remained unidentified.[121] It was stated by the locals that over 200 of those killed were found with burns, and 100 or more of them were burned alive.[11][41] In 2005 two hostages died due to injuries sustained in the incident, as did a hostage in August 2006. 33-year-old librarian Yelena Avdonina succumbed to a hematoma on 8 December 2006. At that time the Washington Post stated that the death toll was 334, excluding terrorists.[1] The City of Beslan has a death toll of 335 stated on its website.[122] The death toll includes 186 children.[8] Category of fatality Number of fatalities Children aged 1 to 17 186 Parents, friends and other guests 111 Teachers and school staff 17 FSB employees 10 Civilian rescuers 6 Employees of MoES 2 Employees of MoIA 1 Total 333 Russia's Minister of Health and Social Reform Mikhail Zurabov said the total number of people who were injured in the crisis exceeded 1,200.[123] The exact number of people who received ambulatory assistance immediately after the crisis is not known, but is estimated to be around 700 (753 according to the UN[6]). Moscow-based military analyst Pavel Felgenhauer concluded on 7 September 2004 that 90% of the surviving hostages had sustained injuries. At least 437 people, including 221 children, were hospitalized; 197 children were taken to the Children’s Republican Clinical Hospital in the North Ossetian capital of Vladikavkaz, and 30 were in cardiopulmonary resuscitation units in critical condition. Another 150 people were transferred to the Vladikavkaz Emergency Hospital. Sixty-two people, including 12 children, were treated in two local hospitals in Beslan, while 6 children with severe injuries were flown to Moscow for specialist treatment.[124] The majority of the children were treated for burns, gunshot injuries, shrapnel wounds, and mutilation caused by explosions.[125] Some had to have limbs amputated and eyes removed and many children were permanently disabled. One month after the attack, 240 people (160 of them children) were still being treated in hospitals in Vladikavkaz and in Beslan.[124][126] Surviving children and parents have received psychological treatment at Vladikavkaz Rehabilitation Centre.[127] One of the hostages, a physical education teacher called Yanis Kanidis (a Caucasus Greek, originally from Georgia) who was killed in the siege saved the lives of many children. One of the new schools built in Beslan was subsequently named in his honour. The operation also became the bloodiest in the history of the Russian anti-terrorist special forces. Ten members of the special forces died;[128] the eleventh casualty was initially thought to be Vyacheslav Bocharov who proved to be heavily wounded in the face but alive when he regained consciousness and managed to write down his name.[129] The fatalities included all three commanders of the assault groups: Colonel Oleg Ilyin and Lieutenant Colonel Dmitry Razumovsky of Vympel, and Major Alexander Perov of Alpha.[130] At least 30 commandos suffered serious wounds.[79]

Identity of hostage-takers, motives, and responsibility Edit

Official investigations and trials Edit

Kulayev's interrogation and trial Edit A collage depicting School Number One, photos of killed hostages and the Tree of Grief monument The captured suspect, 24-year-old Nur-Pashi Kulayev, born in Chechnya, was identified by former hostages as one of the hostage-takers. The state-controlled Channel One showed fragments of Kulayev's interrogation in which he said his group was led by a Chechnya-born man nicknamed Polkovnik and by the North Ossetia native Vladimir Khodov. According to Kulayev, Polkovnik shot another militant and detonated two female suicide bombers because they objected to capturing children.[184] In May 2005, Kulayev was a defendant in a court in the republic of North Ossetia. He was charged with murder, terrorism, kidnapping, and other crimes and pleaded guilty on seven of the counts;[185] many former hostages denounced the trial as a "smoke screen" and "farce".[55] Some of the relatives of the victims, who used the trial in their attempts to accuse the authorities, even called for a pardon for Kulayev so he could speak freely about what happened.[68] The director of the FSB, Nikolai Patrushev, was summoned to give evidence, but he did not attend the trial.[20] Ten days later, on 26 May 2006, Nur-Pashi Kulayev was sentenced to life imprisonment.[186] Kulayev later disappeared in the Russian prison system.[187] Following questions about whether Kulayev had been killed or died in prison, Russian government officials said in 2007 that he was alive and awaiting the start of his sentence.[188][clarification needed] Investigation by federal prosecutors Edit Family members of the victims of the attacks have accused the security forces of incompetence, and have demanded that authorities be held accountable. Putin personally promised to the Mothers of Beslan group to hold an "objective investigation". On 26 December 2005, Russian prosecutors investigating the siege on the school declared that authorities had made no mistakes whatsoever.[189] Torshin's parliamentary commission Edit At a press conference with foreign journalists on 6 September 2004, Vladimir Putin rejected the prospect of an open public inquiry, but cautiously agreed with an idea of a parliamentary investigation led by the State Duma, dominated by the pro-Kremlin parties.[190][191] In November 2004, the Interfax news agency reported Alexander Torshin, head of the parliamentary commission, as saying that there was evidence of involvement by "a foreign intelligence agency" (he declined to say which).[192] On 22 December 2006, the Russian parliamentary commission ended their investigation into the incident. Their report concluded that the number of gunmen who stormed the school was 32 and laid much of the blame on the North Ossetian police, stating that there was a severe shortcoming in security measures, but also criticizing authorities for under-reporting the number of hostages involved.[193] In addition, the commission said the attack on the school was premeditated by Chechen rebel leadership, including the moderate leader Aslan Maskhadov. In another controversial move, the commission claimed that the shoot-out that ended the siege was instigated by the hostage-takers, not security forces.[194] About the "grounded" decision to use flamethowers, Torshin said that "international law does not prohibit using them against terrorists."[195] Ella Kesayeva, an activist who leads a Beslan support group, suggested that the report was meant as a signal that Putin and his circle were no longer interested in having a discussion about the crisis.[66] On 28 August 2006, Duma member Yuri Savelyev, a member of the federal parliamentary inquiry panel, publicized his own report which he said proves that Russian forces deliberately stormed the school using maximum force. According to Savelyev, a weapons and explosives expert, special forces fired rocket-propelled grenades without warning as a prelude to an armed assault, ignoring apparently ongoing negotiations. In February 2007, two members of the commission (Savelyev and Yuri Ivanov) denounced the investigation as a cover-up, and the Kremlin's official version of events as fabricated. They refused to sign off on the Torshin's report.[75] Trials of the local police officials Edit Three local policemen of the Pravoberezhny District ROVD (district militsiya unit) were the only officials put on trial over the massacre. They were charged with negligence in failing to stop gunmen seizing the school.[196] On 30 May 2007, the Pravoberezhny Court's judge granted an amnesty to them. In response, a group of dozens of local women rioted and ransacked the courtroom by smashing windows, overturning furniture, and tearing down a Russian flag. Victims' groups said the trial had been a whitewash designed to protect their superiors from blame.[197] The victims of the siege said they would appeal against the court judgement.[198] In June 2007, a court in Kabardino-Balkaria charged two Malgobeksky District ROVD police officials, Mukhazhir Yevloyev and Akhmed Kotiyev, with negligence, accusing them of failing to prevent the attackers from setting up their training and staging camp in Ingushetia. The two pleaded innocent,[199] and were acquitted in October 2007. The verdict was upheld by the Supreme Court of Ingushetia in March 2008. The victims said they would appeal the decision to the European Court for Human Rights.[200]

Criticism of the Russian government Edit

Other incidents and controversies Edit

Escalation of the Ingush-Ossetian hostility Edit Nur-Pashi Kulayev claimed that attacking a school and targeting mothers and young children was not merely coincidental, but was deliberately designed for maximum outrage with the purpose of igniting a wider war in the Caucasus. According to Kulayev, the attackers hoped that the mostly Orthodox Ossetians would attack their mostly Muslim Ingush and Chechen neighbours to seek revenge, encouraging ethnic and religious hatred and strife throughout the North Caucasus.[250] North Ossetia and Ingushetia had previously been involved in a brief but bloody conflict in 1992 over disputed land in the North Ossetian Prigorodny District, leaving up to 1,000 dead and some 40,000 to 60,000 displaced persons, mostly Ingush.[40] Indeed, shortly after the Beslan massacre, 3,000 people demonstrated in Vladikavkaz calling for revenge against the ethnic Ingush.[40] The expected backlash against neighbouring nations failed to materialise on a massive scale. In one noted incident, a group of ethnic Ossetian soldiers led by a Russian officer detained two Chechen Spetsnaz soldiers and executed one of them.[251] In July 2007, the office of the presidential envoy for the Southern Federal District Dmitry Kozak announced that a North Ossetian armed group engaged in abductions as retaliation for the Beslan school hostage-taking.[40][105][252] FSB Lieutenant Colonel Alikhan Kalimatov, sent from Moscow to investigate these cases, was shot dead by unidentified gunmen in September 2007.[253] Grabovoy affair and the charges against Beslan activists Edit In September 2005, the self-proclaimed faith healer and miracle-maker Grigory Grabovoy promised he could resurrect the murdered children. Grabovoy was arrested and indicted of fraud in April 2006, amidst the accusations that he was being used by the government as a tool to discredit the Mothers of Beslan.[254] In January 2008, the Voice of Beslan group, which in the previous year had been court-ordered to disband, was charged by Russian prosecutors with "extremism" for their appeals in 2005 to the European Parliament to help establish an international investigation.[205][255][256] This was soon followed with other charges, some of them relating to the 2007 court incident. As of February 2008, the group was charged in total of four different criminal cases.[257]

Memorial Edit

Russian Patriarch Alexius II's plans to build an Orthodox church as part of the Beslan monument have caused a serious conflict between the Orthodox Church and the leadership of the Russian Muslims in 2007.[258] Beslan victims organizations also spoke against the project and many in Beslan want the ruins of the school to be preserved, opposing the government plan of its demolition to begin with.[259]

International response Edit

Media portrayal Edit

See also Edit

Notes Edit

^ Also spelled Khochubarov ^ Not to be confused with the head of the Beslan administration in 2004, also named Vladimir Khodov. ^ Also spelled Magomet ^ Also spelled Mairbek Shebikhanov ^ Also spelled Isa Torshkhoev ^ Also spelled Bay Ala ^ Also spelled Tsokiev ^ Also spelled Maryam ^ These allegations are discussed in more detail elsewhere in this article. ^ After the crisis, Dzugayev was promoted and a made minister for culture and mass communications of the republic. ^ President Zyazikov of Ingushetia was forced to resign in 2008 but for unrelated reasons: the death of oppositionist journalist Magomed Yevloyev , who was shot in police detention.

References Edit