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hecksinductionhour
in history, journalism, regime, regions, rights, solidarity, war and
peaceSeptember 3, 2017 2,057 Words

Remembering Beslan
The Memory of Beslan
Takie Dela
September 1, 2017

On the anniversary of the tragedy, Takie Dela remembers the principal

witnesses to the events in School No. 1.

On September 1, 2004, terrorists seized School No. 1 in Beslan. The

gunmen herded over a thousand hostages, including small children, into
the school’s gym. For three days, the hostages were forcibly held in the
building without food and water. The security services assaulted the
school to free the hostages.

A total of 334 people were killed in the terrorist attack, including 186
children. 126 of the former hostages were crippled. During the assault, the
FSB killed 28 terrorists. The only terrorist taken alive, Nurpashi Kalayev,
was arrested. A court later sentenced him to life in prison.

Many articles, investigative reports, and special projects have been written
about the Beslan tragedy, and several documentary films and books have
been released. Takie Dela recalls the primary witnesses to the events in
School No. 1.

Novaya Gazeta

Novaya Gazeta reporter Elena Milashina was in Beslan during the

terrorist attack. The first article she filed about the tragedy, “Lies
Provoked Terrorists’ Aggression,”was published in the newspaper’s
September 6, 2004, issue.

“According to the police officers and special forces soldiers with whom we
have spoken, the preparations for the assault were vigorous. That the
authorities were learning toward this option is borne out by one other fact.
They did not, in fact, negotiate with the gunmen. No one intended to meet
even their formal demands. They explained to us, ‘It’s not clear what they
want.'”

In 2014, on the tenth anniversary of the tragedy, Milashina recalled how

events had unfolded before and after the terrorist attack .

“The Beslan terrorist attack will go down in Russian history as an instance

when the populace was disinformed on an unprecendented level. Up until
the assault of the school, officials concealed the scale of the tragedy (the
number of hostages). They also concealed negotiations with Chechen
separatist leader Aslan Maskhadov, who was ready to ask the gunmen to
put down their weapons. Akhmed Zakayev, Maskhadov’s emissary, was
ready to fly straight to Beslan and take part in negotiations with the
terrorists.”

In 2006, Novaya Gazeta published a special issue on the outcome of its

investigation, featuring forensic evidence, annotated maps, official
reports, and eyewitness testimony. The newspaper came to several
conclusions. Reliable information about the upcoming terrorist attack was
known to the authorities at least three hours before the school was seized,
and Alexander Dzasokhov, president of North Ossetia, offered to replace
the children with 800 officials and local MPs, but Moscow forbade him
under pain of arrest from entering into negotiations. The biggest public
outcry was caused by the newspaper’s claims that the school was fired
upon by grenade launchers, flamethrowers, tanks, and helicopters on
several occasions when the hostages were still in the building. According
to the newspaper, the official inquiry, while it was in full possession of
these facts, found no wrongdgoing in the actions of those in charge of the
operation to free the hostages.

Twelve years later, Novaya Gazeta special correspondent Elena

Kostyuchenko wrote down the dreams of surviving hostages.

“Vladimir’s dream: “I want to pick a plum. “Now,” I say, “I want a ladder

to the plum and to pick the plum.” A young girl below me says, “I’m not
your little girl.” I say, “And where is my little girl?” She says, “She is not
here. I am another girl here.” After all, she was lying with my wife in the
grave. “I’m not your daughter,” she says, “Don’t pick me plums.” I say,
“Where is my little girl?” She says, “I don’t know. Look for her.”‘”

Kommersant

Kommersant reporter Olga Allenova was returning from Grozny, when

her editors called her and told her about the terrorist attack in Beslan. She
went to North Ossetia to write a story.

“‘Don’t let the hostages’ relatives on the air. Don’t cite any number of
hostages except the official figure. Don’t use the word “storm.” The
terrorists should not be called gunmen, only criminals, because terrorists
are people you negotiate with.’ This was what several national TV channel
reporters, located in Beslan, heard immediately from the top brass. We
were all side by side, and I saw how hard it was for those guys to carry out
the orders of the top brass. And I saw one of them crying in the evening
after the school had been stormed.”

On October 17, 2004, the newspaper published an article entitled “How

Did We Help Them?” The story dealt with the fortieth day after the
terrorist attack. [In Orthodox culture, the fortieth day after a person’s
death is usually remembered and marked by a ritual.]

“In Moscow, we say that forty days have passed since the school in Beslan
was seized. Here those days did not exist. In their place is a black hole, like
the hole made by a grenade in the floor of the assembly hall. And every
day is a day of mourning.
“The entire city of Beslan is dressed in black. There are houses here in
which not a single child is left, and entryways through which three caskets
a day are carried out.”

In 2011, an infographic was posted on the newspaper’s website: it features

a map of the school on which the main locations where the events took
place are illustrated by short excerpts from archival video footage.

Esquire

In 2006, the Russian edition of Esquire published an article [in Russian]

by New York Times reporter C.J. Chivers, in which he retraced the events
in Beslan School No. 1 hour by hour: from the beginning of the ceremonial,
first-day-of-school lineup at nine in the morning of September 1 to the
medical care administered to the victims in the Vladikavkaz Hospital on
September 4. Chivers had written the article [in English] o understand
who the hostages had felt the whole time.

“Like many people who have been to Beslan, I subsequently thought a lot
about what had happened. Like the people of Beslan, I was infuriated by
the endless contradictory statements, the lack of information about many
important episodes in the hostage crisis and the actions of the Russian
authorities.”

Radio Svoboda

Ten years after the tragedy, Tom Balmforth and Diana Markosian
published a storyon the Radio Svoboda website about the lives of the
surviving schoolchildren. The former hostages talked about their
memories, features, and thoughts of the future.

“The children behaved heroically. We all grew up immediately. We really

supported each other. In fact, we came together like a family there. Even
many of the adults did not behave with as much dignity as the children.
Apparently, the adults understand everything in terms of their being
grown-up and wise, while we children saw it all through rose-tinted
glasses, maybe. I know for a fact that, after those three days, we became
completely different people,” recalls Zarina Tsirikhova. She was fourteen
when the terrorist attack occurred.
Takie Dela

Takie Dela published Diana Khachatrian’s story about how, in September

2016, the memorial events in Beslan ended in arrests. During the
ceremonial school lineup at School No. 1, five women staged a protest.
They removed their jackets, under which they were wearing t-shirts that
bore accusations against the regime.

Voice of Beslan activists in the gym of School No. 1. Their t-shirts are
emblazoned with the slogan, “Putin is the execution of Beslan.” Photo
courtesy of Diana Khachartian and Takie Dela

“The female activists of Voice of Beslan stand apart in the gym. The five
women are wearing handmade t-shirts on which the inscription “Putin is
the executioner of Beslan” has been written in marker pen. This is not a
hysterical slogan. Based on their own impressions and evidence from the
investigations, the women argue that on September 3, 2004, Vladimir
Putin or a member of his entourage gave the orders to storm the school in
order to expedite events and prevent negotiations with Aslan Maskhadov.
They argue the hostages could have been saved.”

Photography

Photographer Oksana Yushko has for many years produced unique

photograph projects on the aftermath of the Beslan tragedy. Yushko takes
pictures of the children who were taken hostage in September 2004 at
different stages in their school careers, both in everyday life and
during graduation from school.

Amina Kachmazova, left, and Fariza Mitdzieva hugging each other in the
old school No. 1 in Beslan. Fariza, 18: ‘Here we are, such heroes, living
after the attack. And somehow we are able to find happiness in life. Life
just goes on and we cannot change what already happened to us. Just the
opposite: now it is more pleasant to look at how we laugh, have fun and
enjoy life.’ Beslan, North Ossetia, 2013. Photo courtesy of Oksana
Yushko

Documentary Films

In 2005, some of the relatives of those who were killed during the terrorist
attack established the grassroots organization Mothers of Beslan. That
same year, due to friction within the group, a number of committee
members left the group and founded another organization, Voice of
Beslan.

Rodion Chepel’s The Committee, released on the tenth anniversary of the

tragedy, focuses on Beslan’s female activists.

Chepel discussed how the film was made in an interview with Rusbase.

“We have never met such people. They are such uncompromisingly honest
people, it was if they would be shot for lying. From a distance it seems that
Beslan is god knows what, part of Moscow’s war with terrorism. But when
you go there, you understand it is just human grief that has made them so
tough and very honest. It’s not a matter of politics. They’re in touch with
their humanity. You talk to them and you realize you simply have not met
such people. This was what we wanted to show in the film: what these ten
years have done with these people is incredible. They just want someone
to explain to them what happened, for someone to say, “Forgive me. It was
my fault.” Instead, they have been threatened and slandered. People have
tried to sick them on each other, drive a wedge through them, and present
them as insane.”

Filmmaker Vadim Tsalikov has shot four documentary films about the
terrorist attack in Beslan. One of them is Beslan: Memory.

Foreign filmmakers have also shot films about the tragedy in North
Ossetia. For example, Joe Halderman shot the film Beslan: Three Days in
September for Showtime. The picture was screened at the Tribeca Film
Festival in 2006.

Personal Diary
In 2012, one of the hostages, 14-year-old Agunda Vatayeva, decided to
publish her memoir of the terrorist attack. The young woman launched a
diary on LiveJournal and wrote three posts in which told from beginning
to end the story of the three days she spent in captivity.

“If you deliberately searched for my diary, you probably want to read my
memoir of the terrorist attack in Beslan: Day One, Day Two, and Day
Three. It is unlikely that you will find my LiveJournal exciting or at least
positive reading. It was started once upon a time for quite different
purposes. It was a kind of psychotherapy for me.”

***

In April 2017, the European Court of Human Rights award three million
euros to the relatives of the victims. There were over 400 plaintiffs in the
case. The court ruled that the Russian authorities had not taken sufficient
measures to prevent the terrorist attack and had violated Article 2 of
the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and
Fundamental Freedoms: the right to life. In addition, Russia had not
prevented a threat to people’s lives and had not planned the assault on the
school properly. The European Court of Human Rights likewise deemed
that the Russian authorities had not properly investigated all
circumstances of the terrorist attack and the causes of the hostages’
deaths.

The Kremlin reacted to the ECtHR’s ruling by saying that “an emotional
assessment is hardly appropriate.”

“Of course, we cannot agree with this formulation. In a country that has
been repeatedly attacked by terrorists, and the list of such countries has
been growing, unfortunately, these formulations and purely hypothetic
arguments are hardly acceptable. An emotional assessment is hardly
appropriate.

“All the necessary legal actions related to this decision will be taken,” said
Dmitry Peskov, the president’s spokesman.

Translated by the Russian Reader

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Related

Remembering (and Forgetting) Beslan

In "history"

Yelena Osipova: “Russia Is a Bird, Not a Bear”

In "art"
 Report to UN on Racial Discrimination in Russia Banned
In "international"

 Tagged
 Agunda Vatayeva
 Alexander Dzasokhov
 Aslan Maskhadov
 Beslan
 Beslan school siege
 C.J. Chivers
 Diana Markosian
 disinformation
 Dmitry Peskov
 Elena Kostyuchenko
 Elena Milashina
 Esquire
 European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and
Fundamental Freedoms
 European Court of Human Rights
 FSB
 Joe Halderman
 Kommersant
 Mothers of Beslan
 North Ossetia
 Novaya Gazeta
 Nurpashi Kalayev
 Oksana Yushko
 Olga Allenova
 Radio Svoboda
 right to life
 Rodion Chepel
 Takie Dela (online journal and charity foundation)
 Tom Balmforth
 Vadim Tsalikov
 Vladimir Putin
 Voice of Beslan

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