Authorities refuse to name the gas killing hostages in Moscow 15 years ago

Photo: http://www.nord-ost.org/2_ru.html

Debates have intensified in Russia over the terrorist attack in Moscow’s Theatre Center in 2012, when 130 people were killed and over 700 were injured, and many of them became disabled, presumably through the fault of the assault organizers.

The victims’ lawyers held a blustery news conference in Moscow on March 2, putting forward the same demand that they have been appealing to the authorities with for 15 years already: to disclose the formula of the gas used during the assault so as to effectively assist the hostages who survived the attack but became disabled.

As it was stated at the news conference, on March 1, the defence had filed a number of petition, but all of them were turned down, including the request to produce information on gas composition, to interrogate the medics who concluded that the hostages’ death wasn’t caused by gas poisoning, “Caucasian Knot” reports.

The participants in the news conference stressed that the authorities, under different pretexts, refused to disclose composition of the gas used during the assault.

The only fact disclosed by the FSB (Russian Federal Security Service) was that Trimethyl Phentanylum (opioid)-based gas was used during the assault.

But this, however, is hardly enough. The information on precise composition of the gas used during the assault will help save and relieve the lives of many people-it was stated at the news conference in Moscow on March 2

In the lawyers’ words, the government actually claims that the hostages’ death was in no way related to the gas. However, the survivors and the victims’ relatives disagree with that.

Karinna Moskalenko, a lawyer, cited an exampleof one of the victims, Anna Zakaryan. She grew up under the tutelage of her elder brother, since in 2002, when she was still a child, both of her parents died in the terrorist attack at Dubrovka Theatre Center. It was found out that Anna Zakaryan’s parents died as a result of effect of an unknown substance, rather than from the terrorists’ bullets.

“There are serious doubts that this gas could have been used against living human beings,” Moskalenko pointed out. “Those, who buried their relatives, would like to know what poisonedthem. But this information is particularly important for the terrorist attack survivors, who got serious diseases. It’s a right to private life.”

Former hostages now suffer from various diseases, acquired as a result of use of gas – Maria Kurakina and Sergey Panchenko, the lawyers, told the news conference participants.

Lost evidence

“Over the years the investigation has lost the victims’ phone numbers and addresses. It’s unclear, where the documents are: they are seized from time to time by one service or another. Part of the documents are stored in the archive,” said Dmitry Milovidov, Nord-Ost coordination board member.

Dmitry’s 14-year-old daughter, Nina, was killed in the terrorist attack. “There are often problems with summoning victims to court during the trial,” he said.

Karinna Moskalenko, in turn, reported that the presiding judge stated on March 1, there was ‘no need for human rights activists in court’.

Elena Sannikova, ‘For Human Rights’ movement expert, claims that the probe into the Theatre Center assault, namely investigation of the victims’ deaths, wasn’t conducted efficiently.

“First of all, it’s unclear and unobvious, what kind of sleeping gas it was and how it was used.

Secondly, the hostage-takers were killed. And here comes the question: if sleeping gas was used then why the terrorists were killed? The law-enforcers shot everyone who could have given testimony, the key persons of interest in the case. What was the point?

It was necessary to find out, how a huge gang managed to commit such a terrible terrorist attack?”

Photo: http://www.nord-ost.org/2_ru.html