Russia told to pay £2.5m over Beslan deaths

RUSSIA has been ordered to pay £2.5 million in compensation for “serious failings” in its handling of the 2004 Beslan school hostage crisis, which ended with more than 300 civilian deaths, more than half of them children.

The European Court of Human Rights said in a ruling yesterday that Russian security services failed to act on intelligence to prevent the attack, and ran a poorly organised response. The Kremlin said it would appeal.

The Beslan siege began on Sept 1, 2004, when heavily armed Chechen terrorists took more than 1,000 people hostage at a school in North Ossetia, a republic in the Russian North Caucasus, and demanded Russian forces withdraw from neighbouring Chechnya.

The siege, during which hostages were held for more than 50 hours in the school sports hall underneath bombs wired to basketball hoops, ended in a chaotic fire fight on Sept 3 after two bombs exploded and Russian special forces stormed the building. More than 330 people, including 180 children, were killed.

The ruling concluded a case brought by 409 survivors and relatives of those killed. The court said Russia’s failure to prevent the attack amounted to a violation of its convention on the right to life. Its judgment found the authorities had been “in possession of sufficiently specific information” that an attack was being planned but “not enough had been done to disrupt the terrorists meeting and preparing” and security at the school had not been increased.

It added poor organisation of the rescue led to “se- rious flaws in decision making” and that Russia had used more deadly force than necessary including “tank cannon, grenade launchers and flame-throwers”.

Emma Tagayeva, who lost her husband and both sons in the attack, said the ruling had brought some “moral satisfaction” but that she and other relatives would continue their fight for justice.

Dmitry Peskov, Vladimir Putin’s spokesman, dismissed the court’s criticism. “Such hypothetical assessment is hardly acceptable,” Mr Peskov said.

‘Not enough had been done to disrupt the terrorists meeting and preparing’