Beslan school hostage crisis

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Beslan school hostage crisis
Mother and daughter comfort each other in the aftermath of the Beslan hostage crisis.
Location	Beslan, Russia
Target(s)	School Number One (SNO)
Date	1 September 2004 ~9:30am – 3 September 2004 ~5:00pm (UTC+3)
Attack Type	Hostage taking
Fatalities	380+ (including 17 terrorists)
Perpetrator(s)	Caucasian Islamist, North Caucasian rebels, organized by Shamil Basayev and Magomet Yevloyev.
Motive	End to the Second Chechen War, Nationalism, Islamism

The Beslan school hostage crisis (also referred to as the Beslan school siege or Beslan Massacre) began when the group of pro-Chechen armed rebels^[1] took more than 1,200 school children and adults hostage on September 1, 2004, at School Number One (SNO) in the town of Beslan, North Ossetia (an autonomous republic in the Caucasus region of the Russian Federation).

On the third day of the standoff, gunfire broke out between the hostage-takers and Russian security forces. 344 civilians were killed,^[2] including 186 children,^[3] and hundreds more were wounded. Chechen warlord Shamil Basayev took responsibility for the hostage taking, which was led by his Ingush deputy Magomet Yevloyev.

Many questions remain a matter of dispute, including how many terrorists were involved, whether weapons and ammunition had been hidden in the school prior to the siege, and whether some of the terrorists had escaped. Questions about the government’s management of the crisis have also persisted, including the nature and content of negotiations with the terrorists, the responsibility for the bloody outcome, and the use of heavy weapons.

1 Course of the crisis
2 Casualties
3 Responsibility and motives
4 Official investigations
- 4.1 Kulayev interrogation and trial
- 4.2 Torshin commission
5 Domestic repercussions
6 International response
7 Media
8 See also
9 References
10 External links

[edit] Course of the crisis

[edit] Day one

The Republic of North Ossetia in Russia

The initial attack took place on September 1, the traditional start of the Russian school year, referred to as "First September" or "Day of Knowledge."^[4] Children, accompanied by parents and other relatives, attend ceremonies hosted by their school. Commonly, the first-year students give a flower to those entering their final year, and are then taken to class by the older children^{[citation needed]}.

Comintern St. SNO, located next to the district police station, was one of seven schools in Beslan, with 59 teachers and several support staff, and 900 pupils between the ages of six and eighteen. The gymnasium, where most of the estimated 1,200 hostages were to spend 56 hours, was a recent addition, and measured 10 meters wide and 25 meters long.

Because of the older pupils and family members attending the Day of Knowledge festivities, the number of people in the school at the time of the attack was considerably higher than usual for a normal school day. Many families also brought their infants to the ceremony, since the town's daycare center had been closed that day because of a problem with the gas supply^{[citation needed]}.

[edit] Hostage-taking

At 09:30 local time, a group of approximately 32 heavily-armed attackers wearing black ski masks, and in some cases wearing explosive belts, arrived at SNO in a stolen police GAZ van and a GAZ-66 military truck and stormed the school. At first, some mistook the attackers for Russian forces practicing a security drill.^[5] However, the attackers proved their identities after they started shooting in the air and forcing everybody into the school. During the initial chaos, about 50 people managed to flee to safety and alert authorities.^{[citation needed]}

After an exchange of gunfire with local police, in which it was reported one attacker and possibly some police officers were killed,^{[citation needed]} the attackers seized the school building, taking approximately 1,300 hostages. The attackers herded the hostages into the school's gym, and removed everybody's mobile phones; one of the female terrorists threatened that if she found anyone hiding a phone, she would kill that person and three others.^[6]

Execution room on the 2nd floor

After gathering the hostages in the gym, the attackers separated and killed about twenty of the adult male hostages, reportedly the strongest in the group.^[7]^[8] One of the men, Aslan Kudzayev, survived by jumping out the window. The attackers forced other hostages to throw the bodies out of the building and set some children to wash the blood off the floor.^{[citation needed]}

ITAR-TASS reported that a local police source had told them that men disguised as repairmen had concealed weapons and explosives in the school in July 2004, but this version was later officially refuted. Some witnesses have since come forward claiming they were made to help their captors remove the hidden weapon caches from the school.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Beginning of the siege

Overhead map of school showing initial positions of Russian forces

A disorganized security cordon was soon established around the school, consisting of Militsiya and Russian Army forces; OSNAZ, including the Alpha Group and Vympel units of the FSB; and members of the OMON forces of the MVD. No fire-fighting equipment was in position and, despite the previous experiences of the 2002 Moscow crisis, there were few ambulances ready. The Russian government initially misreported or downplayed the numbers, repeatedly stating there were only 354 hostages; this reportedly angered the attackers who further mistreated their captives.^{[citation needed]}

Packed into the school gym with wired explosives attached to the basketball hoop

The attackers mined the gym and the rest of the building with improvised explosive devices, and surrounded it with tripwires. In a further bid to deter rescue attempts, they threatened to kill 50 hostages for every one of their own members killed by the police, and to kill 20 hostages for every gunman injured. They also threatened to blow up the school if government forces attacked.

Karen Mdinaradze, the Alania soccer team's cameraman, survived a mysterious explosion in which he lost his eye.^[9] Apparently, one of the female bombers accidentally detonated her explosive belt, killing another bomber, one male terrorist, and several adult hostages. According to another version, the blast was actually triggered by Pulkovnik, the group leader, when he set off the bomb by remote control to kill those who openly disagreed about the child hostages.^[10]

The Russian government initially said that it would not use force to rescue the hostages, and negotiations towards a peaceful resolution took place on the first and second days, led by Leonid Roshal, a pediatrician whom the hostage takers had reportedly asked for by name; Roshal had helped negotiate the release of children in the 2002 Moscow Theatre Siege. According to another report, Russian negotiators confused him with Vladimir Rushailo, a Russian security official.^[11]

At Russia's request, a special meeting of the United Nations Security Council was convened on the evening of September 1, at which the council members demanded "the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages of the terrorist attack".^[12] U.S. President George W. Bush made a statement offering "support in any form" to Russia.^{[cite this quote]}

That night, the hostage takers began exploring the area surrounding the school, preparing for an exit strategy once their demands had been met.^[13]

[edit] Day two

Flowers and symbolic water bottles left on the gym floor (2006)

On September 2, 2004, negotiations between Roshal and the hostage-takers proved unsuccessful, and they refused to allow food, water, and medicines to be taken in for the hostages or for the bodies of the dead to be removed from in front of the school.^[14]

On day two, the lack of food and water took its toll on the young children, many of whom were forced to stand for long periods in the hot, tightly-packed gym. Many of them fainted, and parents feared they would die. Occasionally, the terrorists took out some of the unconscious children, and poured water on their heads before returning them to the gym. Reportedly, some resorted to drinking their own urine and extracting water from plants.^{[citation needed]} Later in the day, women and men also started to faint from fatigue and thirst. When the bombs started to explode, many of the surviving children were so fatigued that they were barely able to flee from the carnage.^[6]^[15]

Many children took off their clothing because of the sweltering heat within the gymnasium, which led to rumors of sexual impropriety, though the hostages later explained it was merely due to the stifling heat and being denied any water. (According to some, the alleged sexual impropriety did take place. Surviving hostage Kazbek Dzarasov claimed that the terrorists would pick from amongst the prettiest adolescent girls and take them to another room with an excuse of having them fetch water, rape them, and return them a few hours later.)^[16]

In the afternoon, the gunmen agreed to release 26 nursing women and their infants following their negotiations with former Ingushetia President Ruslan Aushev, to whom they also handed a nursing infant whose mother refused to leave the school because of her other children.^[17] The terrorists forced about a dozen of the released mothers to take only one child and leave behind other children, a number of whom were killed.^[8]^[18]^[17]

At around 15:30, two rocket propelled grenade (RPGs) were fired approximately ten minutes apart by the hostage-takers at security forces outside the school,^[19] setting a police car ablaze. The Russian forces did not return fire.

As the day and night wore on, the combination of stress and sleep deprivation—and possibly drug withdrawal^[20]—made the terrorists increasingly hysterical and unpredictable. The crying of the children irritated them, and on several occasions children and their mothers were threatened that if they did not stop crying they would be shot.^[5] Russian authorities claimed that the hostage-takers had "listened to German hard rock group Rammstein on personal stereos during the siege to keep themselves edgy and fired up."^[21]

[edit] Day three

Around 13:04 on September 3, 2004, the hostage-takers agreed to allow Emergency Ministry servicemen to remove bodies from the school grounds. However, when the servicemen approached the school, the hostage-takers opened fire, and explosions were heard from the gymnasium. Two of the servicemen were killed, while the rest took cover.

Part of the gymnasium wall was demolished by the explosions, allowing a group of about 30 hostages to escape, though a number were killed as a result of crossfire between the hostage-takers and the army.

[edit] Versions of the initial events

Rough plan of school showing removal vehicle and damaged gym

Presidential advisor Aslambek Aslakhanov said that the cause of the firing and the subsequent storming of the school had been a spontaneous explosion; according to an escaped hostage, one of the bombs had been insecurely attached with adhesive tape, had fallen, and then exploded.^{[citation needed]}

In a conflicting account, an anonymous employee of the Ministry of Emergency Situations said that the shooting began after the medical workers' truck arrived at the pick-up point; he did not know whether the armed fathers of hostages or the hostage-takers fired first (see the Izvestia article^[specify]). Other witnesses reported hearing increasing automatic weapons fire before the blasts.^{[citation needed]}

These two accounts may be reconcilable. Ruslan Aushev, a key negotiator during the siege, told the Novaya Gazeta that an initial explosion was set off by a hostage-taker accidentally tripping over a wire; as a result, armed civilians, some of them apparently fathers of the hostages, started shooting. Reportedly, no security forces or hostage-takers were shooting at this point, but the gunfire led the hostage-takers to believe that the school was being stormed. In response, they set off their bombs.

A third version is that a Special Forces sniper shot the hostage-taker whose foot was on a dead-man detonator, followed by an RPG round fired at the gym's wall.^{[citation needed]} Some, especially government sources, say that it was an unauthorized action that the sniper took upon himself (part of the task force was away from the scene at an urgent training exercise in a similar school), though others suggest that the shot was authorized to resolve the hostage crisis.

A fourth version stated by Duma member and weapons and explosives expert Yuri Savelyev claims that the exchange of gunfire did not begin with explosions within the school building but by two grenades fired by the Russian forces into the building, and that the home-made explosive devices installed by the rebels did not explode at all.^[22] Savelyev, a dissenting Torshin commission member, claims these explosions killed many of the hostages and dozens more died in the resulting fire.^[23] Yuri Ivanov, another parliamentary investigator, further contended that the grenades were fired on the direct orders of President Putin.^[24]

In a fifth version, Alexander Torshin of a Russian parliamentary commission said the terrorists had started the battle by intentionally detonating bombs among the hostages, to the surprise of Russian negotiators and commanders. That statement went beyond previous government accounts, which have typically said the bombs exploded in an unexplained accident.^[25]

[edit] Storming

A man carrying an injured child out of the chaos

It was at this point that unknown persons, possibly members of the Russian special forces, fired Shmel RPO flamethrowers at the school's roof (a total of nine empty disposable tubes were later found on the rooftops of the nearby apartment blocks), setting parts of the school ablaze. A chaotic battle broke out as the special forces sought to enter the school and cover the escape of the hostages after task force members blew further holes in walls to allow hostages to escape. The offensive included special forces, the Russian army, Interior Ministry troops, armed helicopters, at least one tank (probably two T-72s and one T-80 from Russia's 58th Army but under FSB tactical command), and several BTR armoured personnel carriers.^{[citation needed]}

Witnesses and journalists saw two T-72 tanks advance on the school that afternoon, at least one of which fired several times. Afterwards, the Russian government defended the use of tanks and other heavy weaponry, arguing that it was used after surviving hostages escaped from the school. However, this contradicts the eyewitness accounts, as many hostages were seriously wounded and could not possibly escape by themselves and many were kept by the terrorists as human shields, particulary in the area of the school cafeteria.^{[citation needed]}

Many local civilians also joined in the chaotic battle, having brought along their own weapons, as the Russia's regular conscript soldiers reportedly fled as the fighting began.^[26] The civilians claimed that the local police also panicked, firing in the other direction.^[27] At least one of the armed volunteers is known to have been killed.

By 15:00, two hours after the assault began, Russian troops claimed control of most of the school. However, fighting was still continuing in the grounds as evening fell, including a lone machine-gunner firing from an upper floor, and three hostage-takers in the basement with a number of hostages. They were eventually killed, along with the hostages they were holding.^{[citation needed]}

During the battle, a group of 13 hostage-takers broke through the military cordon and took refuge nearby; reportedly, the group included two women who tried to pass themselves off as medical personnel. Several hostage-takers were believed to have entered a two-story additional building nearby; the building was destroyed by tanks and flamethrowers around 21:00, according to the Ossetian committee's report.^[28]

Reportedly, helicopter gunships conducted rocket strikes on unknown targets in the forest near Beslan later that day.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Aftermath

Vladimir Putin on national TV after the crisis

Russia's deputy Prosecutor General Alexander Fridinsky said that 31 of the 32 hostage-takers had been confirmed dead and one had been captured alive. One injured suspected hostage-taker was beaten to death by the fathers of hostages when he was driven to the hospital, while another was refused help by the rescue workers.^{[citation needed]} Another suspected terrorist was lynched on the scene, an event filmed by the Sky News crew.^{[citation needed]}

Firefighters were not prepared to battle the blaze that consumed the gymnasium; one old fire truck arrived two hours after the start of the fire, reportedly without water. Few ambulances were available to transport the hundreds of injured victims. Many survivors remained in severe shock and some injured died in hospitals. At least one surviving female hostage committed suicide after returning home.^[29]

The Russian government has been heavily criticized by many of the local people who, days after the end of the siege, did not know whether their children were living or dead. Some human remains were even found by a local man in the nearby garbage dump several months later, which prompted further outrage.^{[citation needed]}

During the operation, eleven fighters of the special groups Alpha and Vympel were killed, among them the commander of Alpha—the highest number of casualties in a single engagement in these units' history. More than thirty fighters of the OSNAZ Special Forces suffered wounds of varying severity.

Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a two-day period of national mourning for September 6 and September 7, 2004. On the second day of mourning, 135,000 people joined a government-organised anti-terror rally on the Red Square in Moscow. Putin cancelled planned meetings with German chancellor Gerhard Schröder in Hamburg and in the federal state of Schleswig-Holstein.

See also: Timeline of the Beslan school hostage crisis

[edit] Casualties

See also: Casualties of the Beslan school hostage crisis

Official fatalities
Hostages	344
Police and civilians	8
Emergency workers	2
Special forces	11
Hostage-takers	31
Total	396
-
Estimated wounded
Special forces	30
Other	700
Total	730

At least 396 people, mostly hostages, were killed during the crisis. The first of the many funerals were conducted September 4, the day after the final assault, with more the following Sunday, and mass burials of 120 people on Monday.^[30] The local cemetery was too small and had to be expanded to an adjacent plot of land.

The exact number of people that received ambulatory assistance immediately after the crisis is not known, but is estimated at around 700. Moscow-based military analyst Pavel Felgenhauer in a September 7, 2004 Moscow Times column concluded that 90% of the hostages had sustained injuries. After their release, 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 thirty, in critical condition, were in resuscitation units. Another 150 people were transferred to the Vladikavkaz Emergency Hospital. Sixty-two people, including twelve children, were treated in two local hospitals in Beslan. Six children with heavy wounds were flown to Moscow for specialist treatment. The majority of the children were treated for burns, gunshot and shrapnel wounds, and mutilation caused by mines and bombs.^[31]^[32] Some had to have amputations and eyes removed. Many children were permanently disabled by injuries sustained during their captivity. The sudden influx of large numbers of injured placed a severe strain on the local health service. There was an inadequate availability of hospital beds, medication, and neurosurgery equipment.^[33] One month after the attack, 240 people (160 of them children) were still being treated in hospitals in Vladikavkaz and in Beslan.^[31]^[34] Surviving children and parents have received psychological treatment at Vladikavkaz Rehabilitation Centre.^[35]

Later, it was reported that an unknown number of survivors may have died as a result of a government-ordered countermeasure, called Naloxone, meant to counter the effects of Fentanyl-based drugs.^[36] The latest fatality is 33-year-old librarian Yelena Avdonina, who on December 8, 2006 succumbed to wounds sustained during the siege.^[2]

[edit] Responsibility and motives

[edit] Responsibility

Shamil Basayev in Dagestan, 1999

[edit] Chechen separatists

Initially, the identity and origin of the attackers were not immediately clear. It was widely assumed from day two, that they were separatists from nearby Chechnya, but Aslambek Aslakhanov denied it: "They were not Chechens. When I started talking with them in Chechen, they had answered: We do not understand, speak Russian".^{[cite this quote]} Freed hostages however confirmed that many of the hostage-takers did speak Chechen amongst themselves and only spoke Russian with heavy accents.

The Chechen separatist leader Aslan Maskhadov immediately denied that his forces were involved in the siege. He condemned the action and all attacks against civilians via a statement issued by his envoy Akhmed Zakayev in London.^{[citation needed]} On November 1, Maskhadov called Shamil Basayev a terrorist for his involvement in the Beslan crisis.^{[citation needed]}

On September 17, 2004, Basayev issued a statement claiming responsibility for the Beslan school siege,^[37]^[38] saying his Riyadus-Salikhin "martyr battalion" had carried out this and other attacks, and further, that the attackers were in heaven and the killed hostages in hell. Newspaper reports have also linked his Ingush deputy, Magomet Yevloyev, to the school attack.

The Beslan crisis was strikingly similar to the 1995 Budyonnovsk hospital hostage crisis and the 2002 Moscow theater hostage crisis in which hundreds of civilians were held hostage by Chechen terrorists, also led by or answering to Shamil Basayev.

[edit] Arab and alleged al-Qaeda involvement

Shortly after September 3, 2004, official Russian sources stated that the attackers were part of an international group led by Chechen terrorist Shamil Basayev that included a number of Arabs with connections to al-Qaeda. Shamil Basayev, in an interview with a Canadian newspaper, confirmed that two of the attackers were Arabs.^{[citation needed]} At least two English/Algerians are among the identified terrorists partaking actively in the attack: Osman Larussi and Yacine Benalia. A third, UK citizen Kamel Rabat Bouralha, arrested while trying to leave Russia immediately following the attack, is suspected to be a key organizer. All three have links to^[specify] the Finsbury Park Mosque of north London.^[39]^[40] Russian authorities also picked up phone calls in Arabic from the school^[specify] to Saudi Arabia and another undisclosed Middle Eastern country.^[41]

Russia also claimed that suspected al-Qaeda agent Abu Omar al-Saif was responsible for financing the attack and that foreign nationals such as Khattab, Abu Zaid and Abu al-Walid from different Middle Eastern countries had been active in the region since the beginning of the First Chechen War. ^[specify]^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Identities

Masked hostage-taker during the crisis

The number of attackers remains a somewhat controversial topic. According to official sources, thirty-two attackers participated directly, two of whom were women and one of whom was taken alive.^{[citation needed]} However, several surviving hostages and eyewitnesses claim there were many more attackers; unofficial numbers go as high as fifty-two attackers, with four women amongst them, and three captured alive.^{[citation needed]}

On September 6, 2004, the name and identity of seven of the assailants became known, after forensic work over the weekend and interviews with surviving hostages and a captured assailant. In November 2004, Russian officials announced that twenty-seven of the thirty-two attackers had been identified; however on September 12, 2005 the lead prosecutor against captured terrorist Nur-Pashi Kulayev stated that only twenty-two of the thirty-two bodies had been identified,^[42] leading to some confusion over which identities have been confirmed.

Also in November 2004, 28-year-old Akhmed Merzhoyev and 16-year-old Marina Korigova of Sagopshi were arrested by Russian authorities. Merzhoyev was charged with providing food and equipment to the hostage-takers, and Korigova with having possession of a phone that Tsechoyev had phoned multiple times—Korigova was released when her defence attorney Sharip Tepsoyev showed that she was given the phone by an acquaintance after the crisis. In April 2005, the identity of the two female suicide bombers was revealed.^[43]

Forensic tests established that twenty-one of the terrorists took heroin^[44] as well as morphine, apparently in a normally deadly doses. The official investigation cited the use of these "new drugs" as a reason for the militants’ ability to continue fighting despite being badly wounded and presumably in great pain.^[45]

[edit] Planners and financiers not participating in the actual attack

Shamil Basayev, has taken ultimate responsibility for the attack
Magomed Magas Yevloyev, Ingush national also involved in the Basayev's attack on Nazran
Abu Omar al-Saif, Saudi national, killed in Dagestan in 2005
Abu Zaid, Saudi national, killed by Russian special forces February 16, 2005

[edit] Hostage takers

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Some of the hostage-takers, who numbered at least thirty-two and included a shahidka women, are tentatively identified as:

[edit] Leaders

Polkovnik Ruslan Tagirovich Khuchbarov (reputed group leader, disputed identity)
Abdullah Vladimir Khodov, ethnic Ukrainian from nearby Elkhotovo where he was wanted for detonating a bomb in the marketplace (though Basayev has since said he was an FSB double agent), former pupil of the school
Ali Taziyev - Ingush ex-policeman, debate rages whether an alias/stolen identity of Khuchbarov or Yevloyev

[edit] Identified

Khizir-Ali Akhmedov
Magomed Aushev
Fantomas, bald Slav thought to have been a bodyguard to Shamil Basayev
Sultan Kamurzaev
Magomet Khochubarov, had a prior conviction for possessing illegal firearms
Iznaur Kodzoyev
Nur-Pashi Kulayev, 24-year-old Chechen, the sole surviving hostage-taker who was sentenced to life in prison
Hanpashi Kulayev, one-armed brother of the above, a former bodyguard of Basayev, also called Khan
Adam Kushtov, 17-year-old Ingush who fled the 1992 ethnic cleansing in North Ossetia to Ingushetia
Abdul-Azim Labazanov, 31-year-old Chechen, born in Kazakhstan, initially fought on the federal side in the First Chechen War
Osman Larussi, British-Algerian, who had already been reported killed earlier^[46]
Arsen Merzhoyev, 25-year-old Chechen native of Engenoi
Mairbek Shainekkhanov (also spelled Mayrbek Shaybekhanov) - arrested shortly before the school attack
Buran Tetradze, 31-year-old Georgian, native of Rustavi in Georgia, disputed by security minister^[47]
Issa Torshkhoev, 26-year-old Ingush native of Malgobek where he was unable to find work - five of his friends were killed in March 2004 after his house was raided by Russian police^{[citation needed]}, had a prior conviction for robbery
Musa Tsechoyev, 35-year-old Ingush native of Sagopshi, owned the GAZ-66 that drove the hostage-takers to the school, suspected
Bei-Alla Tsechoyev, 31-year-old brother of above, also spelled Bay or Ala, had a prior conviction for possessing illegal firearms. Body identified in November 2004.
Yacine Benalia, British-Algerian who had already been reported killed earlier^[46]

[edit] Unidentified

Black male
Asian male, said by Basayev to be Russian-Korean

[edit] Shahidkas

Roza Nagaeva, Chechen woman from the village Kirov-Yurt in Chechnya's Vedensky District, sister of Amnat Nagaeva, who is suspected of being the suicide bomber having blown up one of the two Russian airliners brought down on August 24, 2004. Roza Nagaeva has previously mistakenly been named as having carried out the bombing of Moscow's Rizhskaya metro station on August 31, 2004^[43]
Mairam Taburova, Chechen woman from the village Mair-Tub in Chechnya's Shalinsky District^[43]

[edit] Motives

[edit] Nationalism

Russian negotiators say the attackers never explicitly stated their demands, although they did release ad-hoc notes handwritten by one of the hostages on a school notebook, in which they spelled out demands of full troop withdrawal from Chechnya, recognition of Chechen independence, and that Chechnya should remain in the ruble zone and be part of the CIS.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Islamism

Shamil Basayev stated that the attackers' goals were not limited to merely Chechen nationalism and independence. He had objectives of establishing an Islamic Emirate across the whole of the North Caucasus (including predominantly Christian North Ossetia) stretching from the Black Sea to Caspian Sea.^[48]^[49]

The only surviving attacker Nur-Pashi Kulayev, claims that attacking a school and targeting mothers and young children was not merely coincidental; it was deliberately designed for maximum outrage with the purpose of igniting a war in the Caucasus. The attackers hoped that Christian Ossetians seeking revenge for their murdered families would attack their Muslim Ingushetian and Chechen neighbours, fomenting ethnic and religious hatred and strife throughout the North Caucasus.^[50]^[48] North Ossetia and Ingushetiya had previously been involved in a brief, but bloody conflict in 1992 over disputed land in the North Ossetian Prigorodny District leaving an estimated 600 dead and 50,000 refugees.

Chechen nationalist leader Aslan Maskhadov denounced the school siege; he denied any Chechen involvement and later characterised the attack as “terrorism”.^{[citation needed]} It has been suggested^[specify] that the Russian government's insistence that the perpetrators were a transnational al-Qaeda-related group, rather than Ingushetian and Chechen separatists, was motivated in part by an attempt to avoid regional ethnic strife.^{[citation needed]} North Ossetia is the only Christian-majority republic in the area and the republic most loyal to Moscow.^{[citation needed]} So far, the expected backlash against the neighbouring nations has failed to materialise; Russian Orthodox patriarch Alexius II later said{{specify} the Ossetians had saved the Caucasus by showing restraint.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Demands

The hostage-takers in Beslan were reported to have made the following demands:

Withdrawal of Russian troops from Chechnya.
Presence of the following people in the school:
- Aleksander Dzasokhov, president of North Ossetia,
- Murat Ziazikov, president of Ingushetia,
- Ruslan Aushev, former president of Ingushetia,
- Leonid Roshal, a renowned pediatrician.

The 1 September 11:00-11:30 letter sent along with a hostage ER doctor: ^[51] Source: the case papers of the Nur-Pashi Kulayev's criminal trial. File pages 196-198, the vetting protocol. Cited at the trial session January 19, 2006.^[52] The hostage who was made to write the note misspelled doctor Roshal's name.

8-928-738-33-374 [according to pravdabeslana.ru; the federal committee reported 8-928-728-33-74]

We request the republic's president Dzasokhov, the president of Ingushetia Ziazikov, the children's doctor Rashailo for negotiations. If anyone of us is killed, we'll shoot 50 people. If anyone of us is wounded, we'll kill 20 people. If 5 of us are killed, we'll blow up everything. If the light, communication are cut off for a minute, we'll shoot 10 people.

The 1 September 16:00-16:30 letter brought by the same female hostage: According to the federal committee report this note contained a corrected phone number (ending with 47) and addition of Aushev to the list of requested persons.

The 2 September 16:45 letter sent along with Aushev: A note hand-written on a quad ruling notebook sheet sized 32 by 20 cm. Source: ibidem. Pages 189-192, the vetting protocol. Pages 193-194, a photocopy of this note.

From Allah's servant Shamil Basayev to President Putin.

Vladimir Putin, it wasn't you who started this war. But you can finish it if you have enough courage and determination of de Gaulle. We offer you a sensible peace based on mutual benefit by the principle—independence in exchange for security. In case of troops withdrawal and acknowledgement of independence of Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, we are obliged not to make any political, military, or economic treaties with anyone against Russia, not to accommodate foreign military bases on our territory even temporarily, not to support and not to finance groups or organizations carrying out a military struggle against RF, to be present in the united rouble zone, to enter CIS. Besides, we can sign a treaty even though a neutral state status is more acceptable to us. We can also guarantee a renunciation of armed struggle against RF by all muslims of Russia for at least 10 to 15 years under condition of freedom of faith. We are not related to the apartment bombings in Moscow and Volgodonsk, but we can take responsibility for this in an acceptable way.

The Chechen people is leading a nation-liberating struggle for its freedom and independence, for its self-protection rather than for destruction or humiliation of Russia. We offer you peace, but the choice is yours.

Allahu Akbar

Signature

30 August

[edit] Official investigations

[edit] Kulayev interrogation and trial

Main article: Nur-Pashi Kulayev

Kulayev during trial

The captured terrorist, 24-year-old Nur-Pashi Kulayev, born in Chechnya, was identified by former hostages. The state-controlled Channel One showed fragments of his interrogation. Kulayev said the group was led by a Chechnya-born militant nicknamed "Polkovnik" (Colonel) and by Khodov, 28, who was a suspect in the May 15, 2004, Moscow-Vladikavkaz train bombing. According to Kulayev, Polkovnik shot another militant and detonated two female suicide bombers because they objected to capturing children.^{[citation needed]}

Kulayev recognized the body of a short man as Polkovnik. The official investigators identified Polkovnik as Ruslan Tagirovich Khochubarov. The authorities linked a third body to Magomet Yevloyev nicknamed Magas, an Ingush from the Chechen capital Grozny who, together with Basayev, prepared an attack on Ingushetia on June 22, 2004, in which 98 people were killed. Kulayev recognized the body of a bald-headed man dressed in a vest and black uniform trousers as belonging to a militant nicknamed Fantomas.

In May 2005 Kulayev was a defendant in a Russian 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.^[53] Ten days later, on May 26, 2006, Nur-Pashi Kulayev was sentenced to life in prison; no appeal was filed by either the defendant or prosecutor.^[54]

[edit] Torshin commission

Ruins of the school in 2006

At a press conference with foreign journalists on September 6, 2004, Vladimir Putin rejected the prospect of an open public inquiry, but cautiously agreed with an idea of a parliamentary investigation led by the Duma. He warned, though, that the latter might turn into a "political show".^[55] On November 27, 2004, the Interfax news agency reported Alexander Torhsin, head of the parliamentary commission, as saying that there was evidence of involvement by a foreign intelligence agency. He declined to say which, but said "when we gather enough convincing evidence, we won't hide it".^[56]

On December 26, 2005, Russian prosecutors investigating the siege on the school claimed that authorities had made no mistakes. Family members of the victims of the attacks have claimed the security forces of incompetence, and have demanded that authorities be held accountable.^[57]

On August 28, 2006, Yuri Savelyev, an MP and member of the official parliamentary inquiry panel, publicized his report proving that Russian forces deliberately stormed the school on 4 September 2004 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.^[58]

On December 22, 2006, a Russian parliamentary commission ended their investigation into the incident. They concluded that the number of gunmen who stormed the school was 32 and laid much blame on the North Ossetian police; the commission stated that there was a severe shortcoming in security measures. Also, the commission said the attack on the school was premeditated by Chechen rebels including Aslan Maskhadov. In a controversial move, the commission claimed that the shoot-out that ended the siege was instigated by the hostage takers, not security forces.^[59] Ella Kesayeva, who leads the Voice of 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 details. "We personally didn’t expect anything different from Torshin," said Kesayeva.^[25]

In February 2007, two members of the commission broke their silence to denounce the investigation as a cover-up, and the Kremlin's official version of events as fabricated. The pair said they refused to sign off on the report because of their misgivings.^[24]

[edit] Domestic repercussions

[edit] Allegations of incompetence and official inquiries

Beslan mother at the cemetery

The handling of the siege by Vladimir Putin's administration was criticized by a number of observers and grassroots organisations, amongst them the Mothers of Beslan and Voice of Beslan. Initially, the European Union also criticized the response,^[60], but later backtracked, saying it had been misunderstood.^{[citation needed]} Critics alleged that the storm of the school was needlessly brutal, citing the use of heavy weapons, flame-throwers, and tank guns. There were accusations that officials had not earnestly tried to negotiate with the attackers and provided incorrect and inconsistent reports of the situation to the media.^{[citation needed]} The local provincial leaders were criticized as corrupt for having allowed the attack to take place.^{[citation needed]} Also questioned was the professionalism of Russian special forces; in particular critics charged that they failed to keep the battleground secure from entry by civilians or exit by the militants.^{[citation needed]}

In general,^[specify] the criticism was denied by the Russian government, although Vladimir Putin admitted to a certain lack of professionalism and understanding in handling the crisis.^[61] Alexander Dzasokhov, the head of North Ossetia, resigned his post in May 31, 2005 after pressure from Mothers of Beslan on Putin to have him dismissed. North Ossetian Interior Minister Kazbek Dzantiev also resigned shortly after the crisis. At the same time, Vladimir Putin fired the head of the republic's FSB branch, Valery Andreyev.^[62]

To address lingering doubts, the Russian government launched a parliamentary investigation led by Alexander Torshin,^[63] which in December 2005, resulted in a report which put blame on local authorities, for "a whole number of blunders and shortcomings".^[64] Another separate public inquiry headed by Stanislav Kesayev concluded on November 29, 2005 that “government officials and military leaders handled the situation poorly”.^{[cite this quote]} A third investigation headed by General Nikolai Shepel, acting as deputy prosecutor at the trial of the surviving terrorist Nurpashi Kulayev, found no fault with the security forces in handling the hostage crisis.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Allegations of censorship

Two reporters openly critical of the government could not get to Beslan during the crisis. Andrey Babitsky, a journalist with the Russian service of Radio Free Europe — Radio Liberty, was indicted on mischief after an alleged conflict with security guards in the Moscow Vnukovo Airport and sentenced to a five-day arrest.^{[citation needed]} The late Novaya Gazeta journalist Anna Politkovskaya fell into a coma in an airplane bound to Rostov-on-Don. There are concerns that the incident with Babitsky was provoked by the "request of a militsiya member"^{[cite this quote]} and that the Rostov-on-Don airport's medical test results were "destroyed",^{[cite this quote]} though there are no conclusive evidence and the cases remains speculative.^{[citation needed]}

Regional medical workers were stripped of their mobile phones and forbidden to leave local hospitals at the end of their shifts, in what was suspected to be a move to suppress leaks of casualty figures and related information.^{[citation needed]}

Raf Shakirov, chief editor of the Izvestia newspaper, was forced to resign after criticism by the major shareholders of both style and content of the September 4, 2004 issue.^[65] In contrast to the less emotional coverage by other Russian newspapers, Izvestia had featured large pictures of dead or injured hostages; it also expressed doubts about the government's version of events.^[66]

According to a poll by Levada-Center conducted a week after Beslan crisis, 83% of polled Russians believed that the government was hiding at least a part of the truth about the Beslan events from them.^[67]

[edit] Long-term effects

Increased security measures were introduced to Russian cities. More than 10,000 people without proper documents were detained by Moscow police.^{[citation needed]} At least one incident of police violence was recorded; Magomet Tolboev, an aide to Duma deputy from Dagestan, was beaten on a street in Moscow by two policemen because of his Chechen-sounding name.^{[citation needed]}

The Russian public appeared to be generally supportive of increased security measures. A September 16, 2004 Levada-Center poll found 58% of Russians supporting stricter anti-terrorism laws and the death penalty for terrorism. 33% would support banning all Chechens from entering Russian cities.^[68]

Putin assumed control of appointing the governors of Russia's oblasts, which before were directly elected.^{[citation needed]} The election system for Russian Duma was also changed.^[specify] The reform drew criticism from the United States and European countries, as well as from Russian liberals.^{[citation needed]} Some critics alleged that Putin was using the Beslan crisis as an excuse to increase his personal power.

At the same time, Putin proposed the creation of the Public Chamber that would control state bureaucracy, law enforcement, and task force bodies. The Public Chamber lacks any executive, legislative, or judicial powers. Formation of the Chamber solely depends on the president.

[edit] International response

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Beslan school hostage crisis

The attack at Beslan was met with international abhorrence and universal condemnation. The UN Security Council, in a Presidential Statement on September 1, 2004, condemned the attack in the strongest terms and urged states to cooperate actively with Russian authorities to bring the perpetrators to justice.^{[citation needed]} The UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, on September 7, 2004, condemned it as a "brutal and senseless slaughter of children" and "terrorism, pure and simple".^[69]

The President of the European Commission Romano Prodi on behalf of the European Commission, on September 3, 2004, responded by calling the "killing of these innocent people [...] an evil, despicable act of barbarism.".^[70]

President Bush of the United States, in a September 2004 speech to the UN General Assembly, said of the terrorists at Beslan that they "measure their success [...] in the death of the innocent, and in the pain of grieving families".^[71] In 2005, he called the attack "the terrorist massacre of schoolchildren in Beslan".^[72]

At the Vatican, Pope John Paul II condemned the attack as a "vile and ruthless aggression on defenceless children and families"^[73]

Nelson Mandela of South Africa called the attack an "inhumane and barbaric act of terrorism", saying that "in no way can the victimisation and killing of innocent children be justified in any circumstances, and especially not for political reasons".^[74]

The British Prime Minister Tony Blair described the terrorist attack as "a barbaric act".^[75]

A group of international human rights organizations, including Amnesty International, condemned it as an "abhorrent [...] action" and that it "display[ed] callous disregard for civilian life". They stated that it was "an attack on the most fundamental right - the right to life; our organizations denounce this act unreservedly."^[76]

See also: Beslan charity efforts

[edit] Media

[edit] Books

Beslan: The Tragedy of School Number 1 by Timothy Phillips (London: Granta Books, 2007) (ISBN 1862079277)
Terror at Beslan: A Russian Tragedy with Lessons for America's Schools (ISBN 0-9767753-0-1) (Review)
The 2002 Dubrovka and 2004 Beslan Hostage Crises: A Critique of Russian Counter-Terrorism (ISBN 3-89821-608-X)
Black Widow. Fictional crime story by Sandy McCutcheon. (ISBN 1-920769-74-9) (McCutcheon's personal blog on the book)

[edit] Films

Children of Beslan (2005). Produced and directed by Ewa Ewart and Leslie Woodhead. HBO Documentary Films and BBC co-production. Nominated in three different categories under the 2006 Emmy Award festival and awarded the Royal Television Society prize in the category: Best Single Documentary.
Three Days in September (2006). Directed by Joe Halderman, narrated by Julia Roberts. Full Credits Trailer
The Beslan Siege (2005). TV-documentary by October Films. Director: Richard Alwyn, producer: Liana Pomeranzev. Won the Prix Italia Documentary Award for 2006. IMDB
Beslan (2009). Feature film produced by Firefly Films. Producer: Matthew Hobbs'. Currently in development.

[edit] Music

"Black Widow's Eyes" by The Who (Commentary by Pete Townshend)
"Children of Beslan" by Steven Cravis (Video by Christian Abicht, available on Cravis' German-language site)
"Muhammad" by Sami Yusuf is dedicated to "the innocent children of Beslan".^{[cite this quote]}

[edit] See also

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