Chairman of the Investigative Committee of Russia Alexander Bastrykin held a video conference with representatives of the “Mothers of Beslan”. He said that after the terrorist attack, six terrorists were not identified; the identity of one of them was established last year based on the results of a genetic study.
“For the first time, representatives of the North Ossetian public organization, the Association of Victims of Terrorist Acts “Mothers of Beslan”, whose loved ones died and suffered during the terrorist attack in 2004, approached the head of the Russian Investigative Committee about the first time. The applicants raised a number of questions regarding the progress of the criminal investigation, which was opened by the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation after the terrorist attack. It is now being processed by investigators of the Main Investigation Department of the North Caucasus Federal District. It was reported that one of the attackers was sentenced to life imprisonment, the rest of the militants were eliminated during the assault. The investigation continues as the bodies of six terrorists have not been identified. In 2023, the identity of one of them was established based on the results of a genetic study, who was also identified by the convicted person. Work is underway to establish the identities of the other five unidentified terrorists.” – reported the Investigative Committee.
Representatives of the public organisation gave their versions of what happened. Most of them were directly present at the school taken over by the terrorists and clearly remember the details of those events. They raised a number of issues that, in their opinion, have not been fully resolved until now. These include expert examinations of the bodies of the dead, the timeliness and appropriateness of the actions of law enforcement and emergency services representatives to prevent a terrorist attack and its consequences. According to the victims, a proper legal assessment of what happened will have a preventive effect and prevent this from happening again in the future.
The head of the Main Investigation Directorate of the Investigative Committee of Russia for the North Caucasus Federal District presented a report on the progress of the criminal investigation. In particular, he announced information on the procedure for recognizing the relatives of those killed in a terrorist attack as victims and new details on the identification of the militants. He also said that in light of new arguments from citizens, the composition of the investigative team in the case will be expanded and all the circumstances presented will be assessed legally.
Bastrykin ordered to draw up a detailed work plan for the criminal case, taking into account the circumstances stated by the plaintiffs. In addition, he pointed out the need to conduct a critical analysis of the case materials collected at the initial stage.
On 1 September 2004, terrorists seized school number 1 in Beslan. For three days they held hostages in a mined building without food or water. The victims of the tragedy were 318 people, of whom 186 were children.
