Beslan attacker to appeal against life sentence

The only suspect known to have survived the Beslan school siege was convicted in the deaths of more than 300 people – many of them children – and sentenced to life in prison Friday, touching off an emotional scene in which the mothers of some victims tried to attack the defendant in court.

The verdict returned by the court in southern Russia ended a year-long trial into the September 2004 hostage-taking that survivors and relatives of those who died say has left essential questions unanswered.

The attack killed 331 people, more than half of them children, as well as 31 suspected militants and 11 elite special forces soldiers.

Most of the victims died when explosions tore through the school and security forces stormed the building.

Prosecutors had demanded the death penalty for Nur-Pashi Kulayev, but Russia imposed a moratorium on capital punishment when it joined the Council of Europe a decade ago.

Kulayev’s lawyer said his client would appeal.