Mourners mark anniversary of Beslan tragedy
Thousands of mourners carrying flowers filed into a gutted school gymnasium and then to a cemetery where rows of graves bore children’s names and pictures today, commemorating the anniversary of the hostage tragedy that claimed 331 lives.
Policemen lined the streets of the small town in the southern Russian region of North Ossetia, and mourners had to go through metal detectors to reach the school yard.
As Russian Orthodox priests in flowing black robes chanted prayers, some mourners placed thin wax candles and stuffed animals on the remnants of the gymnasium walls.
Waves of sobs could be heard inside the gymnasium of Beslan’s School No 1, where more than 1,100 hostages had been forced to sit amid bombs rigged around the hall, enduring thirst, hunger and terror.
People walked slowly along the periphery, stopping to examine large portraits of the victims – more than half of them children – that were hung on the walls, as the morning sun peeked through the shattered roof.
Many covered their faces in grief; others shook raised fists at the photos, as if pleading with the dead.
A large red banner decorated with white doves and the names of children around the world hung on the walls of the school, and the gaping holes left by the windows were stuffed with bouquets of flowers. The sound of a bell tolling was broadcast through loudspeakers, followed by mournful music.
Many of the mourners went from the school to the nearby cemetery, where the rows of grave markers carrying children’s names, dates and pictures testify to the town’s loss.
“Of course, everyone, all Ossetians will mark this mournful day, the saddest day maybe in our history. How could it be otherwise? They shot children in the back – five years old, 10 years old,” said Sergei Zutsev, 65, whose nephew was gravely wounded.
The assault – which began a year ago Thursday and lasted three days – by masked, heavily armed guerrillas stunned Russia and prompted President Vladimir Putin to make sweeping political changes.
Across the country, schools started their usually festive opening day ceremonies with a moment of silence.
“Today, millions of people both here and abroad, all who know about this terrible catastrophe and who have a heart, of course remember this nightmare,” Putin said, speaking at the Kuban State Agriculture University.
Outside the school, grief boiled over into rage when the former principal, Lidia Tsaliyeva, tried to enter the school this morning.
Some in the crowd shouted “Murderer!” and moved toward her menacingly. Police and security guards surrounded her and spirited her away, fearing violence from people who remain convinced that she somehow co-operated with the hostage-takers – an accusation she vehemently denies.
Many victims’ relatives have accused the government of mounting a cover-up. Critics have sharply questioned how more than 30 heavily armed attackers could have made their way to the school undetected.
A internet posting attributed to Chechen rebel warlord Shamil Basayev, who has said he masterminded the attack, claimed that Russian security services enabled the hostage-takers to travel unhindered through the region and that a Russian double agent had been among them.
The alleged double agent was supposed to have gained Basayev’s confidence and then led his men into a trap as they were en route to seize government buildings in Vladikavkaz on September 6. Instead, the militants seized the school, said Basayev.
The authenticity of the statement could not be confirmed independently, but the site on which it appeared is considered a mouthpiece for his faction and he has never disavowed previous statements there in his name. Prosecutors dismissed Basayev’s claims.
Basayev’s claim seemed designed in part to stoke already strong distrust of top government officials in the volatile region.
For some of the young victims, however, it was time to move beyond the grief and anger that has hung over the town for the past year.
“Yes it’s difficult to remember, but I can also put it out of my mind if I want,” said 16-year-old Akhshar Tebiyev, who had been held hostage along with two sisters, who survived, and a cousin, who did not.
“I’m definitely looking forward to school starting.”
Beslan residents have accused authorities of failing to properly investigate the raid or hold officials responsible for letting it occur. Today, a group of victims’ relatives delivered an apparently symbolic public rebuke to the Russian government, releasing a petition signed by more than 400 people requesting political asylum “in any country where human rights are respected”.
“We do not wish to live anymore in this country, where a human life means nothing,” read the petition.
The attack, which began on the first day of school, ended when Russian forces stormed the school after explosions were heard inside.
North Ossetian leader Taimuraz Mamsurov, whose predecessor was effectively forced out of office, said Russian special forces acted “abominably” in the final hours of the seizure, during which hundreds of hostages died. Some witnesses have said tank fire, flame-throwers and sniper bullets killed far more people than the hostage-takers did.
“As a man, as a father, as a resident, as a leader, as an Ossetian, we all should feel guilt,” he said.
Mamsurov and Putin’s envoy to southern Russia, Dmitry Kozak, met with representatives of the mothers’ committee for more than an hour today to discuss the investigation.
One of the mothers, Ella Kisayeva, yelled in frustration to reporters after the meeting: “The fact is our children were burned, our children were executed, and no one wants to get involved in this question.”
The official heading a regional legislative investigation, which the government has not endorsed, said today that the rescue effort was badly flawed.
