Victims’ advocates criticize SC’s judgement on Dubrovka terror act

On August 29, at a hearing of the Supreme Court (SC) of Russia in the case against Khasan Zakaev, a native of Chechnya, the courtroom was full of journalists, including from foreign media. This was reported by the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent who attended the trial.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on March 21, Khasan Zakaev was sentenced to 19 years of imprisonment in a high-security penal colony in the case of the terror act on Dubrovka in 2002.

According to a journalist, working for one of the central Paris media, in France, the authorities closely monitor all court hearings in the case of the terror act on Dubrovka, since the topic concerns the freedoms of citizens and human rights violations.

"The French authorities are interested to know who gave the order to use gas, which most likely killed the majority of hostages," the French journalist told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

While considering the appeal, the Supreme Court listened to the parties to the trial and pronounced the decision to reduce the sentence to the convicted person.

Immediately after the court hearing, Karinna Moskalenko, an advocate of the victim party, has announced the intention to challenge the decision of the Supreme Court at the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR).

"The verdict did not take into account the interests of the victims and did not compensate for the damage suffered by them," Karinna Moskalenko told journalists on August 29.

According to Igor Zuber, another advocate of the victims, "the Court's decision did not meet the expectations."

Concerning the mitigation of the sentence for Khasan Zakaev by three months, the advocate said that was "all one" to the victim party, since the victims are interested in other issues.

"The rights of the victims have not been restored in any way. All the issues we have voiced earlier, in particular, regarding the failure to reveal the key circumstances of the tragedy, namely, the conduct of the rescue operation, have not been established and remain so. So, the rights of the victims remain violated. Survivors are not aware of what they are being treated, how long they need to be treated, what kind of medical treatment to choose, who poisoned them and by what kind of gas. We want to learn the names of the leaders for the rescue operation and the names of those who gave orders to use gas," said the advocate.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.