Victims’ defence criticizes work of court in case of Dubrovka terror act

Today, the Moscow Sakharov Centre has started a press conference entitled "White Spots" and dedicated to the Dubrovka terror act.

At the opening of the event, the lawyer Karinna Moskalenko said that the press conference would discuss primarily the fates of those who suffered from actions of power agents, who assaulted the theatrical centre.

"The title ‘White Spots’ was chosen, because we still don’t know the role of Khasan Zakaev, whose case is considered by the court... The trial runs monotonously – questions, documents… But the victims are not the point: Zakaev is charged with everything – conspiracy, transportation of weapons and so on. But yesterday, we have accumulated the critical mass and put forward some petitions – on requesting data about the gas that was used; however, the court rejected our petitions," Ms Moskalenko said.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that in December 2014 the criminal investigation into the terror act committed during a performance of the musical "Nord-Ost" was resumed after detention of a native of Chechnya Khasan Zakaev, accused of helping the capturers of the theatre centre. Khasan Zakaev is accused of helping the capturers of the Dubrovka Theatrical Centre in 2002.

According to Karinna Moskalenko, there is still no answer on what particular gas was used in the assault. "It violates the victims’ right to privacy; they have the right to know the gas composition, because fates of people had changed dramatically. The case has a lot of white spots: it’s not known how people died; who were the members of the staff; and who made decisions on using the gas," said Karinna Moskalenko.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.