(Original title: ‘Nord-Ost’: Why the authorities are afraid of revealing the truth)

MODERATORS: TATIANA ARNO, DMITRY KAZNIN

GUEST: DMITRY MILOVIDOV

Dmitry Milovidov, a member of the coordinating council of ‘Nord-Ost’, spoke about what has changed in the 9 years since the seizure of the theatrical center on Dubrovka. His daughters were taken hostage, and one of them perished during the storming of the building.

KAZNIN: We will begin with that for which you came here today. 9 years have passed. You, however, never give up, as we understand, at trying to figure out what really happened, who is to blame, and so forth.

MILOVIDOV: We, as ordinary citizens, we cannot force the Russian judicial machine to work, yet again, as citizens, we are obliged to force them to do so. During all these years we have passed through a lot of courtrooms and received a lot of refusals. The case is pending before the European Court of Human Rights. Thanks to this court, we got access to all of the materials from the criminal case, and these confirm our position. What has been done during this time, and for what are we fighting now? The terrorist attack left 70 children orphaned. Many of the problems the victims of the terrorist attack on Dubrovka are facing what the Beslan survivors are also facing, as well as victims of other terrorist attacks, which in Russia numbered 56 in the year 2004 alone. But, unfortunately, before we tried this, nobody ever tried to sue the state or tried to protect their rights. We had to start the whole thing, and we made mistakes, and stumbled. But quite a lot got done. What has yet to be done? There is still no law on the status of a victim of a terrorist attack. There is a law on combating terrorism, which dates from 1998 and spent several years under wraps, but when victims of the ‘Nord-Ost’ terrorist attack began to sue the government, it was immediately finalized and came out in a new version, which practically put all the responsibility for damages on the terrorists. Thank God that the new law is very well written as far as the rights of the families of fallen security service commandos. There it clearly states how much the salaries and pensions are to be and so forth. Victims of terrorist attacks, however, rate only a few general terms — such as “at the discretion of the Government of Russia”.

KAZNIN: Who worked on this bill?

MILOVIDOV: A large group of legislators.

KAZNIN: In the State Duma?

MILOVIDOV: Of course. The victims of the terrorist attacks in Volgodonsk… Remember, the whole city was a victim in the terrorist attack — 15,200 people, think about this figure. They try to hush it up, but we remember. The ‘Volgodonsk’ organization developed a draft law on the status of a victim of a terrorist attack, and gave it to the State Duma. The response that was received stated that, firstly, the development of such legislation is a prerogative of the legislators, while at the bottom there was this little note: “We thank you for your citizenship.”

KAZNIN: Still, how about a name? Is the Security Committee handling this in the first place, or some related agency?

MILOVIDOV: I think that no one is handling it these days. Dmitry Anatolievich Medvedev has repeatedly, so to speak, called on the carpet Deputy Minister Konovalov and others, demanding that they hold hearings on this law, and it is still not ready. Igor Leonidovich Trunov developed 11 legislative projects, but he still cannot see any sign of the documents he sent.

ARNO: Have you ever appealed to the human rights advocates, to Mikhail Fedotov, for example, the president of the Foundation for Human Rights?

MILOVIDOV: We turned to Lukin once, but he said that our path leads only to Strasbourg. The commissioner for human rights of the Chechen Republic asked questions like this of the present, or rather, former minister Mrs. Golikova. He pointed out to her the situation in Chechnya, and she also sent him to the European Court of Human Rights. No one is a prophet in his own country.

KAZNIN: What kind of compensation has been paid?

MILOVIDOV: Compensation as such was never paid. They paid out 10 thousand rubles (less than $400 — ed.) for lost items. There was financial assistance, and we are very grateful for it, as it allowed us to bury our loved ones, but little else. There were foundations that provided some assistance, if you remember ‘Mosehnergo’ and ‘Sojuzplodoimport’, and the foundation of the deceased Volsky, who made a schematic of assistance for individuals suffering from the gas attack. That is, he provided assistance to those who could present appropriate medical documentation that they were hospitalized. This was correct. But somehow, when the authorities list the assistance they provided, they list all of these foundations.

KAZNIN: These are public organizations.

MILOVIDOV: You can say that the state has a stake in ‘Mosehnergo’ and ‘Sojuzplodoimport’, but also listing the Volsky foundation, I do not understand this.

KAZNIN: What do other countries do in these situations?

MILOVIDOV: In 2006, at an OSCE session in Vienna dedicated to overcoming the aftermath of terrorist attacks, we reported to the attendees how it is done in Russia. They asked us to repeat it. They were surprised, astonished, and looked at the translators — did they omit a zero or put a decimal place somewhere incorrectly? Could it really be that in Russia a grandmother left to care for her two orphaned grandchildren only receives 215 rubles (about 8 dollars — ed.) a month?

ARNO: So what are these books that you brought with you?

MILOVIDOV: This is something that we managed to achieve — a tiny fraction of what we need to do for the dead. We have released, finally, ‘The Book of Memory’. 130 lives, 130 people who live forever, as long we remember them. This is the fourth book of the ‘Nord-Ost’ organization. We also released our ‘Investigation Incomplete’ back in 2006. The book is not about our emotions, and there is no speculation – it has only materials from the criminal case, which we are laying before the court of public opinion.

ARNO: With regard to the criminal case, in 2007 it was closed and then reopened this year. Why is that?

MILOVIDOV: It has repeatedly been adjourned and resumed on formal grounds. Sometimes this is required in order to copy documents at the request of the European Court. Quite literally a half hour before the bombing at Domodedovo, we made a complaint to the Investigation Committee that some of the terrorists that the investigators declared to have been killed were, in fact, never properly identified. That is, the investigators were in such a hurry to send the case to the archives that they even turned a blind eye to that.

KAZNIN: Memorial Day for you is the 26th. What will happen?

MILOVIDOV: On the 26th at 10:00 am there will be a memorial ceremony on Dubrovka, at Melnikov Street, Building 7. It happens every year according to the same scenario: speeches by people and artists who care and who come to support the victims. There is a church memorial service and 130 balloons are released into the sky in memory of the 130 dead. This is a place for people who care.

KAZNIN: Do government officials and members of parliament come?

MILOVIDOV: It used to be like this: an hour before our ceremony, which back then was held at 11:00, the authorities would come to the so-called “monument with the birds”.

ARNO: They came quietly, laid wreaths, and left.

MILOVIDOV: Not very quietly. Kobzon sang something and Roshal talked about something. On that monument there is no list of the dead. Unfortunately, it was built for those who died here and in Beslan and in Riga and so on. There was a list only once – on that night when President Putin came. Just for him they shyly hung a list of the dead on a piece of cardboard, set up cameras and flowers, and took pictures. In the morning the list was gone, and it is still gone. Our place is hidden on a corner of the theatrical center building. There is a plaque, but now the authorities no longer come to our so-called open-air memorial altar, which still seems to require additional victims. They stand by us, but this, we believe, is a good sign.

On the TV channel ‘DOZHD’
Broadcast dates: October 24th, 2011 at 22:53, October 25th, 2011 at 01:52
http://tvrain.ru/news/nord_ost_pochemu_vlasti_boyatsya_raskryt_pravdu-54980/

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