Dubrovka Theater: 10 Years

From the Moscow Times:

"Dubrovka's Former Hostages Seek Justice 10 Years On"

As Russia prepares to commemorate one of its darkest anniversaries — the Dubrovka Theater raid that claimed 130 lives — former hostages and their families are continuing to fight for truth and compensation.  As the 10th anniversary approaches, former hostages have been recalling the horror of the three-day siege in the media, and tough questions are being asked that might force the authorities to re-open this Pandora's box. Hundreds of people are expected to gather Friday to lay flowers near the entrance of the Dubrovka Theater, where 40 armed Chechen militants barged onto the stage during a musical and took 916 hostages on Oct. 23, 2002.  Yet for many former hostages and the relatives of those who died in the carnage, the anniversary does not offer any closure. Although the authorities paid compensation to most of the victims, as ruled by the European Court of Human Rights in 2011, three have been refused payments of 40,000 euros ($52,000) each on the grounds that the court misspelled their patronymics, Life News reported Monday.  The former hostages also are pressing for an investigation to be re-opened into the details of the siege, with the Lefortovo District Court reviewing the grievances of the plaintiffs, their lawyer, Igor Trunov, said Tuesday, according to RIA-Novosti. Back in 2011, the European Court of Human Rights ruled in favor of 64 Dubrovka victims, saying that the government had to pay 1.3 million euros in damages, or between 9,000 and 66,000 euros to each of the 64 applicants. It also ruled that a new investigation should be opened into the details of the rescue operation by the government security forces.

Russian officials deny accusations of negligence in their decision to end the standoff by pumping an unknown gas into the theater's ventilation systems, knocking out the attackers. Security forces then raided the theater and shot dead the attackers. But the gas also knocked out the hostages, and many of the deaths were blamed on the rescue operation, which critics say was poorly organized.

Even after 10 years, the Russian government refuses to reveal the ingredients of the gas, although Western scientists have identified one of its components as fentanyl, a strong anesthetic commonly used during neurosurgery.  At the time, President Vladimir Putin said the gas could not have caused health problems, but many survivors have since suffered serious mental and physical disorders. Some have developed brain-related illnesses and many became deaf or partially lost sight, Moskovsky Komsomolets reported in 2010. According to a Levada Center poll in 2010, only 9 percent of respondents believed that Russian authorities had told the full truth about the incident.  But although it might be difficult to find the full truth 10 years later, Tatyana Karpova, who lost her son and is now a co-chair of the community organization "Nord Ost" said in an interview with Novaya Gazeta that her organization "will continue to fight" for justice.  A liturgy will take place at a church near the theater's entrance at 7:40 a.m. Friday, followed by a minute of silence at 10 a.m. and concluded with a memorial service. According to tradition, 130 balloons will be released commemorating the 130 dead.

^ It seems that 10 years later the Russian Government still denies any wrong doing in how they handled the whole situation. The Chechen terrorists were willing to release all 74 non-Russians from the theater because they claimed they had no issue with them - only with Russia and the Russian Government. The Russians declared that it was all the hostages or none. Any non-Russian who has ever been to Russia knows that the Russian Government and businsess openly discriminate against Russian residents and foreigners (foreigners have to pay higher prices for most things. An example was a tour of a Czarist Palace around Saint Petersburg that I took a few years ago. The Palace charged Russians 15 Rubles while they charged foreigners 160 Rubles for the same thing (and the tour was still in Russian.) Since everyone (Russian or foreigners) have to show their passport to get tickets for most places (trains, buses, museums, etc) there was no getting around this dual-pricing. My point is that the Russian Government openly allows this discrimination to happen and yet when they could have saved the lives of those 74 foreigners they did nothing. Also, everyone knows that the Russians used a deadly gas that did more harm than good to the hostages. Reports after the attack showed that the Russian authorities refused to tell the EMTs, doctors, hospitals, etc what gas was used or how to treat the victims and because of that the doctors had no idea how to help save them - and this was after the terrorists were all killed. A responsbile government would admit the mistakes they made and try to make ammends with the victims and their families rather than dismissing  and censoring them. I was in Moscow the December after this took place and my friends and I made a point to go see a Russian musical - we saw "Chicago"  - just to show that we were thinking of the victims. It was my first and only musical I ever saw in Russia. While they had security (they made you wait outside the theater with your coats off in below freezing temperatures and then frisked you when you came in and asked you questions - only in Russian - it really didn't make you feel any safer. Of course I don't know what changes they have in place today, but I'm sure that not much as changed in the 10 years. One more item to note is that I was in Russia when the Chechen terrorists took the school hostage in Beslan and all Russian media (news, newspapers, the Internet, etc) were highly censored. I didn't realize it at the time as I was in the country, but once I came home and had access to everything I saw what really happened. It gave me a glimpse at what the Soviet Government did to the Soviet people for 70 years. Again, I guess old habits die hard.  ^

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/dubrovkas-former-hostages-seek-justice-10-years-on/470303.html