"Beslan Mothers" severely criticize the law on terrorism

A roundtable discussion "Combating terrorism. Power and people" has been held in North Ossetia. The roundtable has been initiated by the "Beslan Mothers." The event has been attended by victims of the terrorist act in Beslan, leaders of the Republic's parliament and government, representatives of political parties and public organizations, and also by employees of the FSB, MIA, Ministry of Emergencies, and the prosecutor's office, who directly deal with combating terrorism. 

At the beginning of the roundtable, the "Beslan Mothers" have demonstrated to the participants some video records of interrogations during the trial where the hearing on the case of Nurpashi Kulaev was completed and a verdict is expected soon. Also, the issues of counteracting terrorism by the state and the civil society have been discussed. The roundtable participants have also discussed the new law "On Counteracting Terrorism" signed by President Vladimir Putin on March 6.

At the beginning Susanna Dudieva, leader of the "Beslan Mothers", explained the participants, why the committee has initiated such events. "People may wonder what those women want. We are not after revenge; we do not want more blood. But there are persons who are guilty and they must suffer punishment under the law. We are now going to demonstrate a short video containing testimonies of our functionaries and officers of the power authorities during the trial over Kulaev. I should like you to attentively watch it and answer the question: were our children protected at the time? Are they protected now? Our aim is to preclude any repetition of the Beslan tragedy."

The roundtable participants watched fragments of testimonies of Dzasokhov (ex-President of North Ossetia), Kazbek Dzantiev (former MIA head), Popov (deputy MIA Minister on administrative borders protection), Sobolev (commander of 58th army), Valery Andreev (former head of the Republic's FSB department), Zangionov (professional negotiator), Dzgoev (head of the Ministry of Emergencies), military officers, victims and local volunteer militiamen. The contradictory testimonies of the above persons did not give a clear picture of who actually issued orders in Beslan, who headed the headquarters, who ordered to open fire from tanks and flame throwers. According to Dzasokhov, Andreev was appointed head of the headquarters on September 1 by a Government Decree. Meanwhile, Andreev claimed that he had headed the headquarters on September 2, while prior to that Dzasokhov had been in command. Kazbek Dzantiev claimed that he had not been member of the headquarters. Moreover, when he tried to attend its sittings he was not
let into the headquarters. General Sobolev and other military officers claimed that the tanks opened fire in the evening, while many victims gave directly opposite testimonies.

"This is how the court hearings were conducted. For nine months we have been trying to find out who was doing what. Those people were putting the blame on each other. Negligence and irresponsibility are obvious. When people are not able to cope with their duties they should look for a different job. We have demonstrated you contradictory materials from which it may be seen that the headquarters had wasted all 52 hours while the hostages had been in the school. We are quite sure that a group of militants escaped because the cordon around the school was broken. It is not clear, how many militants were there. The hostages have not missed some terrorists among those killed, such as the militant with a scar, a sniper woman of Slav appearance, or a tall militant with Slav appearance. Therefore, we think the terrorist act investigation was not objective," commented Susanna Dudieva on the video records.

For reference, the "Beslan Mothers" public committee has filed a petition to the General Prosecutor's Office to initiate criminal proceedings against Alexander Dzasokhov and other members of the operational headquarters which worked on September 1-3, 2004 during the terrorist act. According to Susanna Dudieva, the petition was filed on March 3 but there has been no response from the Prosecutor's Office, so far. She adds that a second petition was sent to the General Prosecutor's Office in which the mothers demand that the results of the comprehensive situation expert analysis dated December 23, 2005, which recognize the work of the operational headquarters during the terrorist act as correct, should be declared as wrong.

In the opinion of Vitali Starikov, representative of the CPRF party, the local authorities are responsible for the terrorist act in Beslan, but a still greater responsibility lies with the federal authorities, starting with President Putin and the Cabinet of Ministers headed by Fradkov, which issued orders.

"You ask, what needs to be done in order to put an end to terror?" answered Marina Pak, activist of the "Beslan Mothers", the question of Kasaev, Minister for Nationalities. "We need to accept the truth about the irresponsibility of our leaders. We need to put into order the FSB, MIA and all services which should fight terrorism. It is the only answer. Using this roundtable, we want to demonstrate people our pain. We know that the society is tired of Beslan and wants to return to regular life. But we, who have lost our children, can not return to regular life. If we forget everything, the problem will return and someone of you is going to be its victim."

At the same time, some participants expressed an opinion that in fighting terrorism one should see an ally in the government, and not only an opponent. An opinion was voiced that counteraction to terrorism may only be effective when the institute of civil society has been created. From the point of view of Stanislav Kesaev, deputy speaker of the North Ossetia parliament, the "Beslan Mothers" committee is a sibling of the civil society: "I am grateful to these women for sticking to their civil duty. They uphold it, be it not always smoothly or successfully," he stressed.

The new law "On Counteracting Terrorism" has been subjected to a wide discussion. The "Beslan Mothers" think, and all participants of the roundtable support them, that the new legal document is anti-constitutional and can not resolve all the problems connected with terror.

"The old law "On Terrorism" has been tested in Beslan, they are going to destroy airplanes. But what about people," voiced his opinion Soslan Revazov, leader of the local CPRF branch.

"We have already tested one law on ourselves," said Susanna Dudieva, leader of the "Beslan Mothers". "They claim that an operation to release hostages is considered successful if 30% of all hostages have been killed. This is exactly the figure of losses in Beslan. But can we really consider this operation successful? I am not able to accept this law either with my mind or with my heart. It is a law by which the power defends itself. The authorities have automatically protected themselves and there is no one to take to court. Who of you are going to willingly sign under this law?"

Stanislav Kesaev, deputy speaker of the parliament, states that the Republic's law-makers have worked out and sent to the State Duma a large number of comments to the new law, however, none of them have been accepted.

The roundtable resulted in adopting an address of the North Ossetia community to President Putin and the Federal Assembly, containing a request to adopt appropriate amendments into the law articles which, in their opinion, are anti-constitutional and run counter to the fundamental constitutional right to life, and also to the articles which ensure decent social guarantees to victims of terrorist acts.