| Other Photos |
 |
|
 |
No One Is Admitting Responsibility
Yury Savelyev, a member of the Federal Parliamentary Commission and State Duma deputy from the Rodina party, told Vlast correspondent Viktor Khamraev that parliamentarians have still not been able to find answers to the key questions [about the Beslan tragedy].
“Could the tragedy have been averted?”
“You're asking about a key question that is still unanswered. We still don't know the real cause of the explosions that provoked the assault. It's unclear whether it was the first explosion or the second, which caused the roof to collapse, that took the lives of most of those who died on September 3. The information available to the commission is very contradictory. The investigation has still not established why the explosive device the terrorists suspended from the ceiling in the center of the gym went off. We've questioned two witnesses who were hostages and have seen one of the terrorists taking aim and shooting at the suspended explosives. At the same time, the only captured terrorist, Nurpasha Kulaev, told the court the explosion allegedly occurred because a sniper outside the school shot at the device. There is testimony that the explosive device was activated by a pedal the terrorists pressed as soon as they realized the assault had started.”
“But why does the commission need to know how they exploded it? Is this really the task of the parliamentary investigation?”
“Yes, that too.”
“Many deputies believe that the purpose of the investigation is to establish a direct connection between the event and the actions of the authorities.”
”We are actually working on that – we're trying to identify a direct connection. We have the testimony of witnesses about an explosion. But we have other evidence, for example, on the use of a flame thrower against the terrorists. Either the explosion or the flame thrower could have caused the school to collapse, either from the blast wave or from a fire. At the same time, the official investigation has established two facts. First, the majority of people died because they were buried under the collapsed roof. Second, most died from burns, not from the blast.
“So was a flame thrower used?”
“The commission is inclined to believe that one was used. Our task now is to answer the question of the appropriateness of using flame throwers. It seems to me that this will be the only answer to questions that Beslan residents never stop asking us at each meeting.”
“What are these questions?”
“Residents are convinced that preparatory work for the hostage-taking was going on during repairs at the school in August. Specifically, boxes with weapons were brought in and hidden in two locations – under the stage in the assembly hall and under the floor in the library. The terrorists armed themselves after bursting into the school. Four boys were witnesses; the Mothers' Committee of Beslan gave us their names. But only one gave evidence – the others refused. He told how the terrorists drove them into the assembly hall, how they tore up the floorboards and ordered the boys to crawl under the stage and retrieve the boxes. He told how the terrorists opened the boxes and described the contents in detail.”
“How old is the boy?”
“He's young – 11 years old.”
“Can you trust his testimony?”
“Judge for yourself. There were three of us from the commission. We talked with the boy in the presence of his father. Rather, Federation Council member Valery Fedorov, a former deputy interior minister, did most of the talking, and the conversation was conducted according to all the rules questioning. He repeatedly asked the boy; he asked him to repeat the same episode over and over again, deliberately frightening him. But the boy simply recounted what he had seen; he didn't notice the professionally laid traps and never once fell into them. What is most interesting is that Kulaev testified to the court that he had received weapons at the school.”
“What else do Beslan residents have doubts about?”
“They don't believe that 32 terrorists could have arrived in one GAZ-66 car. Our commission asked the Prosecutor General's Office to conduct an investigative experiment. But unfortunately, none the residents were invited, which was justified by the fact the secrecy of the investigation did not permit the presence of outsiders was not allowed.”
“What did the experiment show?”
“We have official assurances that 32 people in full military equipment can fit into one GAZ-66 if there are two benches inside. But the residents don't believe that. Just like they don't believe there were only 32 terrorists. In Beslan they claim that more than 20 terrorists left the school alive. And a number of facts that have no clear explanation play into their hands. For example, why did special forces, along with soldiers of the 58th army, go several dozen kilometers away at 3.00 in the morning to work out joint actions. So the road from the school towards the railway was unblocked. Residents suspected this was done especially so that the terrorists could get away. There's no direct proof, but there aren't any facts that would dispel these suspicions.”
“Why are Beslan residents disturbed about details such as the exact number of terrorists and what they arrived in?”
“You have to understand that people don't believe the authorities, either local or supreme, and this is why they react sharply to any inaccuracy, vagueness, and incomplete information. To the people of Beslan, everything that seems like a minor detail to you is a sign of the authorities' insincerity. It's no accident that everyone who is now taking part in Kulaev's trial is asking him to tell only the truth, promising him to move for a pardon for this.”
“How did the authorities act during the terrorist attack?”
“There were no coordinated actions at all on the first day. Aleksandr Dzasokhov, who was president of North Ossetia at the time, tried to do something on his own, the regional division of the Interior Ministry acted independently, and so did the FSB and the 58th army. An order from the government approved by FSB Director Nikolai Patrushev and the president arrived only at one o'clock in the afternoon on September 2; and then a unified headquarters commanded by Valery Andreev, the head of the regional FSB office appeared. Consultants arrived – generals Vladimir Anisimov and Vladimir Pronichev [the deputy director of the FSB] with experience in carrying out antiterrorist operations. Pronichev was the one in charge of the operation to free the hostages at Nord-Ost in the fall of 2002. But a unified headquarters should have appeared right on September 1, as the antiterrorist law requires.
“Why was there more than a day's delay?”
“We don't know yet. We're trying to find out.”
Have you been able to find out what the headquarters was preparing for – an assault or negotiations?”
“I have the impression that the prospects of an assault were not discussed at the headquarters. They were working on the possibility of giving the terrorists passage so they could escape and leave the children. I know that Mikhail Gutseriev [the president of Russneft] held negotiations on this by telephone with the terrorists with the permission of the headquarters.”
“Why did everything end with an assault?”
“It's not clear. The commission hasn't received intelligible explanations for the causes of the first explosion. There are suggestions that the insulation tape fastening the explosive device to the entrance to school was weakened by fire, which caused the explosion.”
“After the recent power outage in Moscow Anatoly Chubais, the CEO of RAO UES of Russia, immediately accepted responsibility for the emergency, and the Prosecutor General's Office instituted legal proceedings. No charges were brought against the heads of the power agencies after Beslan. Have any of them admitted responsibility or given testimony to the commission?”
“We talked with everyone except the president, with whom we still have to meet. Not a single power structure has admitted or is admitting responsibility for what happened. During one of the meetings, Duma deputy General Arkady Baskaev, unable to contain himself, offered to personally drill holes in the dress uniforms of the siloviki under the decoration for Beslan.”
“Has anything struck you during the investigation?”
“I was struck by the appalling brutality of the terrorists. I was struck by the fact that not a single terrorist was captured. Kulaev was caught and survived by accident. We have the testimony of one very respected person who claims that in Beslan, as at Nord-Ost, the order was given not to take a single terrorist alive. You would think it should be the reverse – take them alive in order to conduct an investigation. And I was also struck by the ease with which all the blame was attributed to international terrorism. Tell me, what motivation would international terrorism have for attacking the school in Beslan? None! The terrorists couldn't even make any demands.”
“Are you satisfied with the commission's work?”
“No. Because the people in Beslan will be left extremely dissatisfied. They want to know the truth. And the truth for them is in only one question: who is guilty of killing the children? But our commission will probably not give an answer to that question.”
Viktor Khamraev
All the Article in Russian as of June 20, 2005
|
|
|
Photo: Dmitry Dukhanin
