“Militants Not Firing at Us at All”
The trial procedures against Nurpasha Kulaev, the only militant to survive the hostage-taking tragedy in Beslan, resumed in Vladikavkaz yesterday, June 14. The victims said terrorists had not been firing at them with women and children dying under fire of the military. The victims called for Kulaev’s protection, in hopes that he would tell the whole truth about Beslan.
Eight victims were summoned to appear in court. Alexander Gumetsov, father of the 13-year old Aza, was the first to speak. He said he had found his daughter all burnt but had no material claims to Kulaev. His claims are against the State, Gumetsov made it clear, ready to answer any questions. He was not asked a single one though.
The next victim, Zinaida Varzieva said her son had died from a perforating wound received not in his back but “from the side of the military, they were firing at school,” Varzieva insisted.
Former hostage Rimma Kusraeva, who had been at school with two children, told the court about the events she had witnessed herself. On September 1, at around 3:00 or 4:00 a.m., the militants told hostages they expected an attack and ordered to immediatly lie down on the floor to survive shots of the soldiers. They said they would fight back the first attack. After the first explosion, the militants forced women and children to the canteen and ordered them to stand in the window openings with curtains as if with white flags to prevent firing at windows. When an armored carrier arrived, three soldiers jumped out and started shooting at the windows. “I saw myself a woman falling down; there was a pile of bodies in the windowsill after that. The militants were not firing at us at all, I even thought once they were killed, they [the military) would come in and shoot dead all of us,” Kusraeva said.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of June 15, 2005
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