European Court Closes Terror Trial
The European Court of Human Rights has closed to the public the trial on the suits by the victims of the October 2002 terrorist act at the play Nord-Ost at the theater center in Dubrovka, in Moscow, at the insistence of Russia, which promised to provide a detailed account of the freeing of the hostages there, to reveal the formula of the gas used to narcotize those inside the theater and the names of the special operations agents involved in the action. Surviving audience members and relatives of those killed at the theater will make material claims against Russia at the trial.
The European Court closes trials for reasons of morals, public order, state security, for the protection of minors and to protect trial participants’ private lives. Lawyer for the claimants Igor Trunov commented that “By appealing to the materials in the case, the Russian representative at the European Court [Veronika Milinchuk] is trying to convince her colleagues that the Russian state and special services did all they could to free the hostages, but the situation was so difficult that they couldn’t save everyone.” When the theater was gassed, the 40 rebels holding the hostage were rendered unconscious, as were most of the hostages. Of the 930 actors and audience members, 130 of them never woke up. By revealing the formula of the gas, Russia hopes to show that the gas was not deadly, but the victims did not receive prompt medical attention. “Doctors’ incompetence as a cause of death of the hostages will create a completely different impression on the European judges,” Trunov noted.
Trunov added that, during the crisis, all radio communications in the area of the theater were monitored, without court approval, including the communications of diplomats, legislators and government officials who had come to the scene. Trunov also expected that the FSB sill reveal the identities of some of its undercover agents.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of July 04, 2008
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