ROLLTIDE
05-26-2006, 08:47 AM
A Russian court handed a life sentence Friday to the only-surviving hostage-taker involved in the deadly 2004 Beslan school siege.
Nur-Pashi Kulayev was found guilty of terrorism and murder in the three-day siege which killed 331 people, more than half of them children (http://www.howardforums.com/showthread.php?t=920545#). (Sergei Grits/Associated Press)
Nur-Pashi Kulayev, 25, was found guilty of terrorism and murder in the three-day siege, during which 331 people — more than half of them children — died.
"[Kulayev] deserves the death sentence but because the Russian government has introduced a moratorium on carrying out death sentences, I sentence him to life imprisonment," Judge Tamerlan Aguzarov told the court in Vladikavkaz.
Familes called for death sentence
Familes of the victims shouted and cried as the verdict was read out.
"The ultimate sentence should have been passed," said Aneta Gadiyeva, whose child died at the school.
"We believe that this was a particularly evil act and it should have been punished accordingly."
Many mothers of the children who died at the school were on hand for the verdict, dressed in black and carrying signs that read, "There is no forgiveness of the authorities who let Beslan happen."
Kulayev said at his trial that charges against him were "fairy tales." However, the judge rejected Kulayev's defence that he had been forced into the hostage-taking and that he had never threatened or harmed any of the hostages.
The vedict came at the end of a year-long trial.
Only hostage-taker to survive
The school siege began on Sept. 2, 2004, when 32 heavily armed militants took more than 1,200 hostages at the school in southern Russia.
They demanded that Russian troops pull out of Chechnya. During the siege, they rigged the building with bombs and refused to let their hostages drink or use toilets.
The siege ended in mass confusion, with Russian troops raiding the building as the bombs detonated and the gunmen fired on fleeing hostages.
Kulayev was the only hostage-taker to survive. He was found hiding under a truck not far from the school after the siege ended, and narrowly avoided being lynched by a mob.
http://www.cbc.ca/storyview/MSN/wor...an-verdict.html (http://www.cbc.ca/storyview/MSN/world/national/2006/05/26/beslan-verdict.html)
Nur-Pashi Kulayev was found guilty of terrorism and murder in the three-day siege which killed 331 people, more than half of them children (http://www.howardforums.com/showthread.php?t=920545#). (Sergei Grits/Associated Press)
Nur-Pashi Kulayev, 25, was found guilty of terrorism and murder in the three-day siege, during which 331 people — more than half of them children — died.
"[Kulayev] deserves the death sentence but because the Russian government has introduced a moratorium on carrying out death sentences, I sentence him to life imprisonment," Judge Tamerlan Aguzarov told the court in Vladikavkaz.
Familes called for death sentence
Familes of the victims shouted and cried as the verdict was read out.
"The ultimate sentence should have been passed," said Aneta Gadiyeva, whose child died at the school.
"We believe that this was a particularly evil act and it should have been punished accordingly."
Many mothers of the children who died at the school were on hand for the verdict, dressed in black and carrying signs that read, "There is no forgiveness of the authorities who let Beslan happen."
Kulayev said at his trial that charges against him were "fairy tales." However, the judge rejected Kulayev's defence that he had been forced into the hostage-taking and that he had never threatened or harmed any of the hostages.
The vedict came at the end of a year-long trial.
Only hostage-taker to survive
The school siege began on Sept. 2, 2004, when 32 heavily armed militants took more than 1,200 hostages at the school in southern Russia.
They demanded that Russian troops pull out of Chechnya. During the siege, they rigged the building with bombs and refused to let their hostages drink or use toilets.
The siege ended in mass confusion, with Russian troops raiding the building as the bombs detonated and the gunmen fired on fleeing hostages.
Kulayev was the only hostage-taker to survive. He was found hiding under a truck not far from the school after the siege ended, and narrowly avoided being lynched by a mob.
http://www.cbc.ca/storyview/MSN/wor...an-verdict.html (http://www.cbc.ca/storyview/MSN/world/national/2006/05/26/beslan-verdict.html)