Resolution

to drop criminal charges (criminal prosecution)


City of Moscow                                                      October 16^th, 2003

Investigator of extremely serous cases for the prosecutor’s office, city of Moscow, V. I. Kalchuk,
on examination of the materials relating to criminal case #229133, determined that:

Shamil S. Basayev, being one of the leaders of an illegal armed unit (IAU) active in the territory of the Chechen Republic (CR) and financed from outside the country, its aim being the destabilization of the Northern Caucasus region of Russia and the creation of an Islamic government disguised as a struggle for freedom and independence for a self-proclaimed, illegal ‘Ichkeriya’ government, the leaders of this IAU and other Chechen separatists in order to coerce the government of the Russian Federation (RF) to remove its armed forces from the CR where they are conducting an anti-terrorism operation, created a criminal association (organization) in order to carry out a series of terrorist acts in the city of Moscow, including explosions in populous and significant community areas, and the taking of a large number of people hostage.

At various stages during the preparation of these acts of terrorism by Basayev and other organizers of this criminal association, no less than 52 persons were selected, some of whom had patently counterfeit documents prepared in various places, and each was assigned a specific role and responsibility.

For the realization of the hostage seizure, Basayev and his immediate superiors enlisted the following terrorists to perform the seizure of hostages through the threat of an explosion:

Elmurzayev, Ruslan Abu-Hasanovich, date of birth (DOB) 15.06.1973, born and residing in the CR, also known as Abu-Bakar, using the passport of a Russian citizen under the name of Aliyev, Ali Maksudovich, year of birth (YOB) 1965, born and residing in the Republic of Dagestan, said passport prepared based on false documents in the city of Mahachkala.

Hunov, Faula Shahanbiyevich, YOB 1964, born and residing in Karachayevo-Cherkessk Republic, also illegally given travel documents through the complicity of S. D. Borzayev and L. U. Daudova.

Page 51

…The bombings planned by Basayev during the time of the seizure of the Palace of Culture (DK, also known as the Dubrovka theatrical complex, or ‘Nord-Ost’) and to be carried out by two female suicide bombers in populous and significant community areas in the city of Moscow, was aimed at causing even greater panic and increase fear and destabilize the situation in the city of Moscow, was assigned to A. L. Hashanov, while Alihan Mezhiyev was detailed to mount the operations in these places, but the realization of the plan was unsuccessful due to reasons beyond their control, since immediately after the seizure of the DK of Moscow Bearings the city of Moscow’s law enforcement officers conducted intensive security measures, during which they carefully checked all vehicles and suspicious persons.  Worried about being detained, Alihan Mezhiyev and his female terrorists refused to carry out the planned bombings and he received permission to halt the operation during a telephone conversation with Elmurzayev, who at the time with other terrorists had already seized the hostages (at the DK).  Two explosives belts and three grenades, prepared for the suicide operation by Mezhiyev on orders from Elmurzayev, who had called him from the premises of the DK, were given to H. H. Sobraliyev, who also on orders from Elmurzayev hid them for later use in terrorist activities inside the car he was using, a Volkswagen Golf, #T 398 HU 99 RUS, which he accidentally lent to his former wife, I. A. Ivanteva, as payment for a debt.  The woman did not know about these criminal activities, and though guessing that she would not find the devices, Sobraliyev could not collect them for some time.  Ivanteva and her acquaintances, V. A. Kriotor and O. S. Isachenko, found the devices, and not wishing to keep the explosives belts and grenades, threw them away in various locations inside Moscow – in rivers, where they were subsequently found on October 25^th and October 26^th, 2002.  Alihan Mezhiyev, on orders telephoned from the premises of the DK by Elmurzayev, purchased train tickets for his two female terrorists, and sent them out of Moscow.

During the seizure of the hostages, Salamov (Barayev) went out onto the stage and fired towards the ceiling with an assault rifle, declaring that all the spectators and artists had been taken hostage and would be shot if they disobeyed the terrorists’ demands, and that if their demand to remove Russian forces from the CR was not obeyed, then the DK building together with the hostages would be blown up.  Also present were other terrorists armed with assault rifles, pistols, explosive devices, and ammunition and all dressed in special uniforms – women in black clothing, men in camouflage with masks on their faces, including: R. A. Elmurzayev, A. N. Baihatov, R. Baihatov, Adilsultanov, Aliyev, Yupayeva, Kurbanova, Tagirov, the sisters Hadjiyeva – Aiman and Koku, Husainov, Bitsiyeva, and the sisters Ganiyeva – Hadchat and Fatima…

Page 62

…In order to suppress the will of the captured people to resist and increase their fear, as well as to demonstrate the terrorists’ inhumanity and show the sincerity of their intention to destroy the captured people, the terrorists on orders of Salamov (Barayev) shot:

O. N. Romanova, YOB 1976, who fulfilled her duty as a citizen on the night of October 24^th, 2002, in entering the hall and demanding the release of people, and through her courageous act could have awakened to action a movement among the hostages to release themselves; she was taken from the hall and shot by an unidentified terrorist (body #2007) who used a 5.45 mm assault rifle while she was standing upright with the upper portion of her torso facing him.  Her death resulted from penetrating bullet wounds of the right half of her rib cage and abdomen, with corresponding damage to the lungs and external iliac vein, a fractured sacrum and left ileum (hip) bone, which caused grave damage to her health;

Lieutenant Colonel K. I. Vasilev of the Russian army, YOB 1967, who on the night of October 25^th, 2002, while wearing military uniform, passed through the cordon and entered the inner courtyard of the DK, and was shot from above by the terrorist identified only as ‘Yassir’, who was using an AKS-74 assault rifle, 5.45 mm, serial #5988588, Vasilev’s death ensued from numerous gunshot wounds to the head, chest, and abdomen, which penetrated the body cavity and damaged the internal organs, accompanied by severe, massive blood loss, which caused grave damage to his health;

G. N. Vlakh, YOB 1963, born and residing in the city of Moscow, who on October 25^th, 2002, between 11:00 pm and 11:15 pm, after passing through the police cordon, penetrated into the premises of the DK, where at first he was beaten by terrorists in the theater hall in the presence of the hostages, and later taken into the foyer and shot six times by either a 7.62 mm or 9 mm firearm, which caused two penetrating wounds of the head with damage of the bones of the skull, the brain and its membranes, the right internal carotid artery, the jugular vein, and right submandibular salivary gland, and three penetrating wounds of the chest with damage to the pleura and right lung

Page 63

resulting in injuries, which caused grave damage to his health;

D. P. Gribkov, YOB 1972, who sometime during the night of October 26^th, 2002, impressed by the acts carried out by the terrorists relative to G. N. Vlakh, and humiliation received from them, tried to raise a protest against their illegal actions, and in so doing was fired upon by terrorists in various locations – Bakuyeva and Vitaliyeva using pistols and A. N. Baihatov using an assault rifle, who disregarded the concentrations of hostages around Gribkov, later they led Gribkov from the hall, beat him and inflicted blunt trauma to the chest, which caused moderate damage to his health; later they inflicted stabbing-cutting wounds on his chest, which caused grave damage to his health; later still in the second-floor bathroom they shot him using a 9 mm firearm (PM, APS, Izh or similar type) that was equipped with device on the muzzle (an adapter for a silencer or a silencer itself) five times in rapid succession, causing wounds to the right shoulder, abdomen, and chest with injuries to the lungs, heart, aorta, esophagus, and liver, causing his death.

While Bakuyeva and Vitaliyeva with pistols and A. N. Baihatov with a 5.54 mm assault rifle were firing upon Gribkov, they caused:

T. M. Starkovaya, YOB 1961, to receive wounds (by the terrorist A. N. Baihatov) from a 5.54 mm Kalashnikov assault rifle (AKS-74U) in the region of the ribcage, which penetrated into the abdominal cavity with injury to the internal organs, which caused grave damage to her health;

P. G. Zaharov, YOB 1979, to receive a penetrating gunshot wound to the head with damage to the cranial and facial bones of the skull, and to the membranes and substance of the brain, which caused grave damage to his health.  Zaharov was taken from the DK and hospitalized at Veteran’s Hospital #1 where despite medical intervention he died at 7:20 am on October 26^th, 2002.

In connection with the appearance of a real threat to the life and health of a large number of people who were being held hostage, their prolonged, forced detention in the DK building without medical assistance or the needed means of hygiene and nourishment, the behavior of the terrorists who had refused to release all children as they had outlined earlier and continued to express a threat to blow up the building and all people within it and to destroy officers and soldiers of the law enforcement agencies if any attempt were made to free the hostages by storm, and the existence of reliable data concerning a series of murders of hostages by the terrorists and the shootings to begin on October 26^th, 2002, if their (the terrorists’) demands were not carried out,

Page 64

competent organs of the RF made the decision to conduct an operation using units from the FSB’s special operations forces to rescue the hostages and render harmless the terrorists by any means including their destruction, the operations to be conducted early on the morning of October 26^th, 2002.

As a result of the given, urgent operation to rescue and save the hostages through the actions of the special forces acting under extreme necessity, i.e.: to prevent an imminent danger threatening the lives, health, and interests of a great number of people who were being held in a closed space, which was booby trapped by powerful explosive devices; the interests of the public and government, under conditions where the threatened danger was complicated by circumstances that could not be removed by other means, other than the 5 who were killed by the terrorists (K. I. Vasilev, G. N. Vlakh, D. P. Gribkov, P. G. Zaharov, and O. N. Romanova), 125 people died during their rescue or at various times in hospitals following their rescue…

Page 69

…Death in practically all (125) resulted from severe respiratory and cardiac insufficiencies, which were caused by a combination of unfavorable factors dangerous to life and health, and which arose during the period of their being held hostage from October 23^rd to October 26^th under severe, prolonged psycho-emotional stress, decreased oxygen content in the air of the premises (hypoxic hypoxia), prolonged forced body positioning often accompanied by the development of oxygen starvation in the organism (hypoxia of a circulatory nature), hypovolemia (dehydration) in connection with a prolonged absence of the intake of food and water, prolonged sleep deprivation that exhausted the compensatory mechanisms, as well as respiratory disorders caused by the action of the unidentified chemical substance (or substances) used by the law enforcement agencies in the course of the special operation to rescue the hostages on October 26th, 2002.  The multifactor nature of the causes of death rules out a direct cause and effect connection between the action of the gaseous chemical substance (or substances) used on a person’s organism, and death.  In the given case this connection is of an incidental nature, in so much as there are objective reasons to believe that in the absence of these other factors, enumerated above, the use of this gaseous substance (or substances) would not lead to death.

In connection with the terrorist act organized by Basayev, the DK building sustained damage in the amount of not less 60,719,890 rubles ($2,480,000).

The 40 terrorists who kept people hostage there: R. A. Elmurzayev, M. B. Salamov (Barayev), an Arab mercenary called ‘Yassir’, A. N. Baihatov, R. Baihatov, Adilsultanov, Aliyev, Yupayeva, Kurbanova, Tagirov, the Hadjiyeva sisters – Aiman and Koku, Husainov, Bitsiyeva, the Ganiyeva sisters – Hadchat and Fatima, Gishlurkayeva, Mutayeva, Bairakova, Dugayeva, Tatayev, Shidayev, Abdulsheihov, S. S. Elmurzayeva, Ahmetov, Bimurzayev, Husenova, M. B. Hadjiyeva, Bisultanova, Vitaliyeva, Bakuyeva, R. A. Hashanov, Tushayeva, Saidov, as well as terrorists using counterfeit documents in the names of Jabrailov, Hamzatov, Musayev, and three male corpses (corpses 2007, 2028, and 2036) whose identities were not determined – were destroyed, since there was an imminent danger that they would at any moment set off explosives, and since they actively laid down fire during the assault from 13 assault rifles and 8 pistols.

As a result of the correct decision made by competent organs of the RF concerning the necessity to rescue the hostages, and the skillful actions of the special services during this rescue, the criminal activity of the terrorists ceased and prevented even greater damage,

Page 70

which would have occurred if an explosive device were detonated, which the terrorists intended to do, and the hostages took these intentions to be real, and this would have led to a massive loss of life (912 persons) and undermined the authority of Russia in the international arena.

Based on the enclosed and in accordance with Part 1, Article 39 of the Russian Criminal Codex; and Paragraph 2, Part 1, Article 24; as well as Part 4, Article 24 of the Russian Criminal Codex, accordingly, it is resolved:

1.  To bringing a criminal case against officers and soldiers of the special services who carried out the hostage rescue – denied, since they acted out of extreme necessity, i.e.: to prevent an imminent danger threatening the lives, health, and interests of a great number of people who were detained in a closed space that was booby trapped with powerful explosive devices; the interests of the public and the government under conditions when the imminent danger under the given circumstances could not be removed by other means; through their competent actions they prevented a much greater damage, which would have occurred had the terrorists set off their explosives, and led to the deaths of 912 people.

2.  To bringing a criminal case against the terrorists who seized and detained hostages: R. A. Elmurzayev, M. B. Salamov (Barayev), an Arab mercenary called ‘Yassir’, A. N. Baihatov, R. Baihatov, Adilsultanov, Aliyev, Yupayeva, Kurbanova, Tagirov, the Hadjiyeva sisters – Aiman and Koku, Husainov, Bitsiyeva, the Ganiyeva sisters – Hadchat and Fatima, Gishlurkayeva, Mutayeva, Bairakova, Dugayeva, Tatayev, Shidayev, Abdulsheihov, S. S. Elmurzayeva, Ahmetov, Bimurzayev, Husenova, M. B. Hadjiyeva, Bisultanova, Vitaliyeva, Bakuyeva, R. A. Hashanov, Tushayeva, Saidov, as well as terrorists using counterfeit documents in the names of Jabrailov, Hamzatov, Musayev, and three male corpses (corpse #s 2007, 2028, and 2036) whose identities were not determined – denied, due to the deaths of the suspects.

3.  To inform the victims and their lawful representatives of the given decision.

4.  To explain to the victims and citizen plaintiffs their right to bring suit within the framework of civil legal procedures.

The present resolution may be appealed in accordance with Chapter 16 of the Russian Criminal Codex.

Investigator ____________________(signature)