Trial opens of only man charged in Beslan atrocity

SURVIVORS of the Beslan school hostage crisis and relatives of the dead crammed into a courtroom yesterday to catch a glimpse of the only man to go on trial for the terror attack.

Nur-Pashi Kulayev, who did not speak, watched impassively as prosecutors opened the trial by reading a seemingly endless list of victims and relatives and listing the charges of terrorism, murder and others.

“Everything they read today we saw with our own eyes,” said Lyudmila Dzegoyeva, 33, one of the more than 1,200 hostages who were held in a sweltering gymnasium at Beslan School No 1 from September 1 to 3 by more than 30 heavily armed militants.