By Maxim Yaroshevsky

Radio Svoboda (‘Freedom’)

The ‘Nord-Ost’ public organization sent a declaration to the Prosecutor General of Russia demanding that charges be brought against those persons responsible for the deaths of 130 hostages during the special operation at Dubrovka. Relatives of victims, and victims of the terror act, accuse the assault operation’s leadership of a cover up and negligence in carrying out their professional duties. In the opinion of Irina Khadamada, who took part in a civil investigation into the seizure and assault on ‘Nord-Ost’, nothing will result from this appeal to the Prosecutor General.

Members of the ‘Nord-Ost’ organization have over the course of almost five years been gathering information about all large terror acts that happened in Russia. These include the apartment blasts in Moscow and Volgodonsk, the terror acts in the ‘Avtozavodskaya’ Metro station and Tushino stadium, the seizure of the school in Beslan, and, of course, the tragedy at Dubrovka. What is characteristic of all these cases is that criminal cases were initiated due to the seizure of hostages, but not a single criminal case with regards to the deaths of people.

“Really, is this not a government crime, in that we haven’t opened criminal cases concerning the deaths, such massive destruction of people, during rescue operations?” asked Tatiana Karpova, chairman of the ‘Nord-Ost’ public organization. “It’s a crime by our government! The facts in the criminal case on the destruction of the terrorists are indisputable. We never have tried to justify the acts of the terrorists who took our children hostage and committed this monstrous crime, but we’ll never forgive the government that never wanted or tried to do anything to save people after the assault.”

Yesterday the Prosecutor General of Russia was sent a petition by the ‘Nord-Ost’ organization, demanding a criminal case be opened against members of the operational headquarters that directed the assault on Dubrovka. The list of those accused in the deaths of hostages begins with the head of the operational headquarters, Vladimir Ponichev, FSB head Nikolai Patrushev, operational headquarters member Viktor Rushailo, and FSB General Alexander Tikhonov, who directed the actions of the special forces during the assault. All are accused by the organization of violating two articles of the law.

The first is “withholding information about circumstances that pose a danger to human life and health”. This concerns the gas used during the assault. “Five years later,” continues Tatiana Karpova, “the case materials refer to the gas as an ‘unidentified gaseous chemical substance’. The prosecutor still does not consider it necessary to state what gas was used during the assault. It became known to us, from a report by Shevchenko, who was Health Minister at the time, that the gas used was based on Fentanyl. The government had no right to use this substance, because no antidote has been invented, that is, there no cure for it.”

The second accusation against the heads of the operational staff is “negligent fulfillment of lawful duties resulting in the deaths of the hostages”. In other words, negligence that caused the deaths of one or more persons. Today a declaration similar to the one sent to the Prosecutor General was sent to President Vladimir Putin. Attached were all the documents that are in one way or another connected with an investigation conducted by victims of the terror act, and relatives of those who died there at Dubrovka.

Here is a portion of the text of the appeal to the (Russian) head of state: “Citizen President, on May 19th, 2007, case #229133, initiated on October 23rd, 2002, with regards to the seizure of hostages was halted in order to search for persons, accomplices of the terrorists, who stand accused. You, Citizen Putin, through secret order awarded the rank of ‘Hero of Russia’ to those who left the hostage rescue operation fully to the whims of fate. In appealing to you, we demand you take the investigation of our appeal and its ensuing judicial decision under your personal control. Those guilty of not saving the lives of 130 people, guilty of the failure of the hostage rescue operation, must receive a harsh punishment”.

According to Tatiana Karpova, the ‘Nord-Ost’ organization will fight to the end to prove it is right: the facts attached by the appellants are painful enough. The chairman for the public organization says that the relatives of the dead do not wish “anyone’s blood”. “We are only doing this so that every person, every government official carries out the duties we entrust to them. The guarantor of our constitution (the president) should truly assure the right to life. We aren’t diminishing, and, perhaps, will never, ever diminish the president’s personal responsibility for this, because he should know everything, and his statements that he wasn’t told don’t suit us.”

In the opinion of Irina Khakamada, the efforts of members of the ‘Nord-Ost’ organization in today’s Russia are absolutely useless. “It is more like some kind of public protest. The authorities will never admit that they made a mistake, and after the tragic evens of October of 2002 they awarded medals to members of the operational headquarters who led the counter-terrorism operation.”

“One can take part in these matters and feel worthy afterwards in only one case: if one understands that it’s a type of protest action,” continued Khakamada. “But to expect an objective investigation, under today’s conditions, I think is rather naïve. If people are hoping for this, then they’ll have an awful disappointment. It can be a secondary stress, but if a similar action were viewed as a protest and an attempt to mold public opinion, then ‘Nord-Ost’ would be satisfied by such a result. It would be effective, because one needs to fight for justice all the same, and one needs to bring this question up.”

According to Irina Khakamada, “for a long time everyone has already known” what really happened at Dubrovka. “At the time when the SPS party held independent civil hearings,” she reminded us. “We reached certain conclusions and the president was informed of them. To wit: a military operation was conducted, but after the military operation there should have been a second stage, a rescue of peaceful residents, an effective one with a minimum of casualties. And this stage here was a failure. Later there were award ceremonies, you know, they gave everyone a medal checking things out. And the government, not having any serious opposition or independent courts, after they rewarded everyone involved, how are they now going to admit that it made a mistake?

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