Mothers hold Beslan court protest

Fifteen women, including mothers of children killed in last year’s Beslan school seizure, left a courtroom today where they had staged an overnight protest to demand that high-level officials also be prosecuted in the case.

The women had been attending the trial of the only surviving suspect and refused to leave yesterday.

Spending the night at the regional Supreme Court in Vladikavkaz, they demanded a meeting with the top prosecutor on the case, Deputy Russian Prosecutor General Nikolai Shepel.

Shepel, who is based in another city, did not meet with the women.

On September 1, 2004, armed militants seized Beslan’s School No.1 with more than 1,100 hostages inside.

More than 330 people, most of them children, were killed in the three-day siege that ended in a hail of explosions and gunfire. While one alleged hostage-taker – Nur-Pashi Kulayev – was captured and put on trial, many in Beslan still believe the facts behind the raid have been covered up by corrupt officials.

In comments broadcast on NTV television, Susanna Dudiyeva, whose son died in the school, accused investigators of not doing enough to determine whether senior officials should be held responsible.

One of the protesting women, Marina Pak, said they now would boycott the trial of Kulayev, who has pleaded innocent to charges including terrorism, murder and attacking law-enforcement officers.

“We are tired of listening to the evidence given by ... Kulayev, who says what prosecutors tell him to say,” Pak said.

She also said that the women would now refuse to meet with Shepel, explaining: “We have no confidence in him.”

Five senior policemen have been charged with criminal negligence in connection with the attack, but many survivors and victims’ relatives say more high-level officials must share the blame.