Beslan mother hospitalized (6 mothers day 9 of HUNGER STRIKE

http://2004.novayagazeta.ru/nomer/2004/74n/n74n-s02.shtml

'TEACHER DAY' IN BESLAN
This holiday was cancelled here, now October 6th is 'Day of Remembrance'. At Beslan's school no. 1, among the hostages there were 62 teachers and other school workers. Twenty-two perished. 22

       Because of the tragedy, Beslan schools cancelled 'Teacher Day'. At 11 AM on the 6th of October, the Beslan cultural center observed a 'Day of Remembrance' for those teachers who died in the storming of school number one. A small delegation came, headed by Northern Ossetia's education minister, Alina Levitskaya, and the new chairman of the government. Relatives of the deceased teachers came. The president of Ossetia did not come, but sent 'feasible pecuniary aid'. For the funerals.
       On the day of remembrance, the relatives were told that the president of the republic had introduced a bill to decorate all the deceased teachers with an award from the government. Precisely what kind of award was not disclosed.        Education Minister Alina Levitskaya read the order for each teacher. She read and cried.

       Azieyeva Zlata Sergeyevna. At the moment the battle began, she saved children with no regard for her own life. Killed while performing her professional duty.
       Alikova Al'bina Viktorovna. From the first day she helped children as they were being moved into the gymnasium, calmed them down, cheered them up, distracted them from terrible thoughts. After the first explosion Al'bina personally saved 20 children, evacuating them from a window in the gym. When the fire began, she ran barefoot along the burning embers and was heading for the exit when someone called for help. She was never seen again. Al'bina's burnt body was identified after 10 days.
       Alikova Darima Batuyevna. During the terror act she supported the children, gave them aid, in spite of the terrorists' orders, and was beaten for this. More than once, according to the hostages, the terrorists threatened to kill her. Darima's burned remained were identified five days later. On her body were 8 bullet wounds.
       Balikoyeva Svetlana Akhmedovhna. Supply clerk for the first school. They could not identify her for a long time. She proved to be literally blown to bits.
       Batayeva Galina Khadzhiyevna. Until the last minutes of her life she kept her courage and composure, gathering her little schoolchildren around her. During the battle she saved children.
       Bekmurzova Zarema Gavrilovna.Saved children with no concern for preserving her own life. Perished after succeeding in saving a large number of children who were located next to her.
       Dzutseva Alena Aksarbekovna. In the face of death she carried out her professional duty. Until the minute she saved children.
       Kanidi Ivan Konstantinovich. Physical education teacher. 74 years old. Veteran of the Great Patriotic War. Until the last minute he was attempting to save children, who looked to him for hope. He shielded them with his body. The guerillas had offered to let him leave the school, but he asked that children be released in his place, and remained in the school. He rendered two explosive devices harmless. After the explosions we tried to seize a machinegun from a guerilla. Shot to death.
       Kantemirova Svetlana Kantemirovna. Teacher of the English language. Died while shielding children with her body.
       Karyayeva Ehmma Khasanovna. Elementary class teacher. Helped children cope with fear. Lost her own daughter in this tragedy while saving other children. Ehmma was last seen by a friend, English teacher Larisa Sergeevna Tedeyeva, who was dragging her to the exit. Ehmma could no longer speak, and blood was gushing from a wound on her neck. Emma brought her right hand to her lips and kissed her wedding ring. Later, she wrote in blood on the floor: 'I love you. Karina.' In this manner she bade farwell to her husband and daughter.
       Mikhailov Aleksandr Mikhailovich. Labor teacher. Until the last minute he courageously fulfilled his duty as a teacher, a man, and a defender.
       Nazarova Nadezhda Ivanovna. Biology teacher. Sacrificed herself to save children. Died will carrying out her dury as a teacher. She died together with her daughter and two grandchildren.
       Rudenok Natal'ya Aleksandrovna. Teacher of IZO and drawing. Saved children, died while carrying out her duty as a teacher.
       Soskieyaa Ol'ga Nikolayevna. Elementary class teacher. Tried to protect children from the guerillas' aggression, and calm them down. Took upon herself the care of a veteran of the Great Patriotic War, veteran of labor and retired history teacher Gutiyev Zaurbek Kharitonovich, who traditionally came to the school on the first day of class. She literally carried the old man from the gym to the restroom, because he had difficulty moving. Gasiyev survived. When the explosion boomed out, Ol'ga Nikolayevna did not concern herself with saving herself or her own daughter. She pushed children from to safety from windows.
       Tuskayeva Al'bina Vladimirovna. Supported children, adults, and parents. Saved her students, lost her son.
       Khanayeva Irina Zakharovna. A teacher worthy of the Russian Federation. Elementary education teacher. Seventy-four years old. In the most difficult situation, suffering from thrombophlebitis, she massed her little students about her feet. She saved her entire class. During the battle Irina Zakharovna was wounded by a burst of automatic weapons fire to her legs, but she stood up on her knees so that the children could climb her back and jump from the window. Died a true teacher.
       Khetagurova Taisiya Kaurbekovna.Kept her courage. Saved many of her students. And died.
       Cherdzhiyeva Roza Timofeyevna.Until the last minute she remained a teacher. She saved her students. Showed rare courage. Remained a teacher of teachers. On the last surviving blackboard in the school her rescued students wrote: 'Roza Timofeyevna! We will never forget you'.
       Sabanov Tarkan Gabuliyevich. Ninty years old. Veteran of the Great Patriotic War. Guerillas offered to let him leave the school. he refused, and said: 'I started my life here, and I will end it here!' Died a true teacher and front-line soldier.
       Karlov Ivan Il'ich. Worked for many years in the school boiler room. Seventy-two years old. Hid children and a teacher in the boiler room. Saved the lives of 30 people. Shot by the guerillas.
       In the enumeration of those killed and posthumously awarded, for some reason the following names did not appear: Andiyeva Ala Teymurazovna, led a beginning modeling class, and laboratory assistant Nogayeva Rira Mukhtarovna.

       Elena Milashina, our special correspondent in Beslan
       We would like to thank our colleagues from the Beslan newspaper 'Life on the Right Bank' for their help in preparing this material.

       07.10.2004

Also from Novaya Gazeta:

How they stormed the school
There is more and more evidence that, from the very beginning, there was no special operation for freeing the hostages prepared, but a combat operation to destroy rebels at all costs. According to eyewitness accounts (confirmed by Russian television), the spetsnaz used the rocket incendiary 'Bumblebee'



       Housings of grenade launchers, disturbingly similar to 'Bumblebee'. Found on a roof opposite the school. Apparantly fire was conducted from here onto the hostage-filled school, using shells that cause a massive explosion. Perhaps this is why there are so many 'missing without a trace'.

       Data:
       Incendiary rocket launcher 'Bumblebee', single-use:
       Sighting range - to 600 meters; minimum range - 20 meters; weight - 12 kg; length - 920 mm; caliber - 93 mm.
       A gunpowder ejection charge shoots from a sealed barrel-container a capsule containing a highly combustible liquid. Firing can be conducted from an area of less than 60 cubic meters in volume. When the capsule breaks upon striking the target, the liquid quickly evaporates and turns into a fuel-air mix, which is ignited by an initiator charge. The volumetric explosion of this mini-vacuum bomb has great destructive kinetic energy in closed spaces and shelters, as well as against lightly armored vechicles, due to its thermobaric (high-temperature shock wave) effect. The explosive force of the RPO-A capsule 'is more powerful than a 122 mm howitzer shell'.

       The third protocol of the 1980 Geneva Convention (ratified by Russia) forbids the use of incendiary weapons 'under any circumstances against an object located near a civilian population'


       President Vladimir Putin was, of course, correct when he came out decisively against a public investigation into the tragedy at Beslan. Neither Stalin, nor Khrushchev, nor Brezhnev would have let a 'parliamentary commissions' get close. But our government these days is weak, and whenever it is threatened, it immediately retreats.
       Obviously, the Kremlin was hoping that the parliamentary commission, under the direction of the extremely obedient Federal Council, would work in private and in a year or two publish some extracts of secret reports, which society would scarely notice, since it had already forgotten about Beslan because of new calamities and tragedies.
       This was not well thought out by our chiefs, and Putin's vertical line of authority turns out to be nothing more than a stick inserted into a bog.
       In Russia nowadays it is practically impossible to keep anything secret for long. Local residents and the military in Beslan have talked to the commission, and continue to talk openly. Information and rumors spread and fall into print. The official version of the evens of 1-3 September, which from the very beginning were full of internal contradictions and incongruities, is falling apart before their very eyes.
       After it became clear that 90% of the hostages were either wounded or killed, the powers began to assert that there was no 'storm' planned, that the spetsnaz were just hanging about the school for three days, and later acted on the situation, so these losses - including among the 'Vympel' and 'Alfa' of the FSB - were to be expected. It was declared that the terrorists 'shot children in the back', though no proof of any kind was offered. The character of battle, where everyone was shooting willy-nilly, does not allow us to accurately determine who was shot 'in the back', and who simply got caught in the cross fire. Of course, this in no way justifies the terrorists, who put the children in the path of death and bullets.
       There is more and more evidence that, from the very beginning, there was no special operation for freeing the hostages prepared, but a combat operation to destroy rebels at all costs. According to the official chronical of events, at 14:02 on September 3rd, there were several explosions, as if accidental, and some of the hostages ran away. The Ossetian police officers and 'militia' opened fire, but the operational headquarters continued to call the terrorists, offering to cease fire, and only at about 3 O'clock did the FSB's spetsnaz begin storming the school. In reality, on September 3rd the operational headquarters had in bravado informed the news agencies that the school had been occupied by the troops, and that the hostages had been freed. In truth, the battle raged another twelve hours.
       By the way, at 14:17, according to a time hack on a foreign television broadcast, while they seemingly were trying to stop the storming of the school, an Mi-24 strike helicopter was patrolling the air above the school. The heavily armored machine could not have appeared so suddenly if it had not been made ready for flight in advance, and if the crew had not earlier been instructed about the area and rules of engagement. Now, according to statements by the local residents, it so happens that the Mi-24 did not just patrol, but fired on Beslan on September 3rd.
       An Mi-24 may fly and accurately engage targets only in daytimes and in good weather. Therefore, tanks from the 58th army group were sent in, most likely a long time previous to this, and used for direct fire. Whoever saw pictures from the chronicles of the battles in Moscow on October, 1993, can imagine what such direct tank fire can do in a city.
       The holy aim of any anti-terror operation is to save as many innocents as possible. To achieve this, they conduct negotiations, make concessions, promise to carry out demands, and in so doing try to calm and cajole the terrorists to free as many hostages as possible. Only when the possibilites for bargaining are fully exhausted, and the number of hostages has been substantially reduced, is force used, and in so doing, in a surgically precise manner.
       In Beslan they did not attempt to make concessions, or conduct negotiations in earnest about curtailing the war in Chechnya - the main demand of hostage-takers. No, they whipped the terrorists into a frenzy, and later, a disorganized, confused military operation for cleaning out the school spontaneously began.
       According to eyewitness accounts (and Russian television confirms this), the spetsnaz used the rocket incendiary 'Bumblebee', with its thermobaric warhead (RPO-A).
       During the storming of Grozny in January, 1995, units of the chemical corps, attached to assault teams, used these rocket incendiary launchers widely and to great effect in suppressing firing points and snipers - by burning out buildings.
       Now they go to liberate child hostages with flamethrowers. Evidently, the spetsnaz guessed that in using 'Bumblebee' there would be no one left alive. In the course of an operation combining tanks, aircraft, and flamethrowers against one separate school building, chances of rescue were truly very small.

       Pavel Fel'gengauer, Reviewer for «New Gazeta»

Specialist's Commentary

       Colonel Aleksandr Silin (first and last names changed) commanded a chemical services unit in Chechnya, which was equipped with with the reaktivnye pekhotnye ognemety 'rocket infantry flamethrower' (RPO), which carried the code name 'Bumblebee':        — The RPO 'Bumblebee' uses 3 types of projectiles: incendiary or napalm; smoke, which can lay down a smokescreen over an area of more than 3 km; and thermobaric, that creates such high temperature and pressure that an explosion of great power is produced. Shooting 3 thermobaric projectiles from a 'Bumblebee' at a 5-story building can completely destroy it.
       I doubt that they could fire such charges at the school. It is possible that could have substituted a considerably smaller thermobaric warhead than used on the 'Bumblebee', based on the RPG-7 rocket launcher. This projectile we named 'pig'. The operating principle is the same as on the 'Bumblebee', only the power of the blast is less. These charges cannot be used indoors, since the RPG and RPO tubes cause a strong back-blast, which can even slay the one firing the weapon.

       Writen down by Vyacheslav IZMAYLOV, military reviewer of 'New Gazette'.

       07.10.2004

Greek ping!

Let us support our Orthodox brothers and sisters.

I read these reports through tears and hug my children tighter.

Other than through God's Grace, I don't know how the victims' families make it through each day.

Beslan Hunger Strike Ends

NALCHIK -- A group of women whose children died in the Beslan school hostage seizure said Monday that they had ended the 10-day hunger strike they held to draw attention to their claims that authorities were covering up the truth about the attack.

Voice of Beslan leader Emma Betrozova, whose husband and two sons died in the September 2004 hostage-taking, said that six group members ended their strike Sunday because they had achieved their goal of alerting the public. (AP)
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2006/02/21/031.html

These people are in my prayers...

http://www.golosbeslana.ru/treb2002.htm

The North Osetian community organization of victims of terrorist acts 'The Voice of Beslan'

363020, Republic of North Osetia - Alaniya, Beslan, Oktyabrskaya ul. 13/24 tel: 8 (867-37) 3-45-67

February 20th, 2006

On ending the hunger strike and our stated demands

On February 9th, 2006, we, the victims of the September 2004 terrorist act in Beslan, declared an indefinite hunger strike. The reason was our distrust of the Attorney General’s investigation.

In spite of numerous depositions by eyewitnesses and material evidence, which prove the involvement of the FSB leadership in the deaths of a majority of the hostages, the district attorney refused to question in court FSB generals Pronichev, Anisimov, and Tikhonov, as well as FSB Director Patrushev. Nevertheless, we are continuing to insist that the majority of the hostages in the school died at the hands of those who fired upon the captured building with tanks, flamethrowers, mortars, large-caliber machineguns, and rocket-propelled grenades. We want to know the whole truth about how the school assault on September 3rd, 2004, was conducted. We began our hunger strike with the following demands:

1. To conduct an investigation of the Beslan terror act to include independent experts, with the direct participation and under the control of the victims, journalists, and human rights advocates.

2. To question in court all witnesses to the tragedy, including representatives of the federal military and law-enforcement agencies able to shed light on the circumstances of what went on.

3. To acquaint ourselves with materials from the main case.

We refused food over the course of ten days. During this time we did not receive a single response to our demands on the part of the leadership of the government. The people in power preferred to maintain the same silence they showed after the deaths of our children.

In the developing situation we realized the pointlessness of our protest. There exists a situation where those who wish to forget about Beslan were interested in removing us from the unfolding events, and halting our independent investigation.

While ceasing our hunger strike, we are not withdrawing our published demands. We will henceforth fight for a real investigation and demand that those guilty of what went on care called to account, no matter what government title or military rank they may carry.

Emma Tagayeva-Betrozova, chairman of ‘The Voice of Beslan’

http://www.golosbeslana.ru/obra2002.htm

The North Osetian community organization of victims of terrorist acts 'The Voice of Beslan'

363020, Republic of North Osetia - Alaniya, Beslan, Oktyabrskaya ul. 13/24 tel: 8 (867-37) 3-45-67

February 20th, 2006

To the citizens and democratic forces of Russia!

Once again the leadership of the nation in the guise of the ‘United Russia’ faction clearly demonstrated its cynicism and indifference towards victims. On February 17th, they voted against examining questions about the Beslan tragedy in the Russian Parliament.

Thereby the legislature has once against expressed its relationship with the victims who lost children and loved ones, just as with other citizens. Once again we were able to convince ourselves of the position of those in authority.

Not a single act of terror occurring in the last few years has been investigated. Those who ordered and executed dozens of such crimes against peaceful citizens remained unpunished. We call upon all citizens of Russia to understand that the mass murder of children, similar to what happened in Beslan in September of 2004, can happen again. The time has come to realize that there are not and never will be independent courts or competent protectors of civil rights while we have such an untruthful, cynical government. There will be no guaranties of a peaceful life for our children.

We appeal to the democratically aligned community and political figures, as well as human rights activists! We ask you to overcome your contradictions and unite around you the citizens who do not agree with the present-day system in our nation. It is time to cease fighting and start to speak the truth to the authorities that have set themselves about the interests of simple people. Believe us, who have lived through such awful grief at the hands of today’s government: individual voices are ignored. Only together can we make them uphold the law. A government that does not value to lives of its children has no future. We call upon you to unite, and together we will defend our right to life.

We ask you to support us.

‘The Voice of Beslan’ community organization

Thanks for posting the update.

Ongoing prayers.

I got a nice thank you note:

http://befree77.livejournal.com/12773.html#comments Vam ogromnaya blagodarnost'!
befree77
2006-02-22 01:32 pm UTC
Khochu ot sebya lichno poblagodarit' Vas za to, chto Vy sdelali. Za Vashi perevody! Ya ponimayu, naskol'ko ehto vazhno! Nikogda by ne smogla delat' tozhe samoe, spasbo, chto potratili svoe vremya. Spasibo! Imenno takaya podderzhka ochen' nuzhna, potomu chto pozvolyaet vsemu angloyazychnomu miru uznat' o Beslane i o Rossii!

Enormous appreciation to you!
befree77
2006-02-22 01:32 pm UTC
I want to personally thank you for what you did. For your translations! I know how important it is! I never could have done the same, thanks for spending your time on this. Thanks! It is specifically this kind of support that is the most needed, because it makes it possible for the entire English-speaking world to learn about Beslan and Russia!

:-))

'The Voice of Beslan' now has its own blog/forum, believe it or not. So far just one thread. But I gleaned this from it:

http://golosbeslana.livejournal.com/455.html

golosbeslana
2006-02-22 03:22 pm UTC

You helped us with your contact and partiality towards us. It means we are not alone. Even if we were, we would not give up our fight for justice. But you support us and that helps us a lot. Today we were able to meet with Luisa Arbut. We waited for her by the entrance to the government building. Thanks to our persistance we were able to talk and tell her about our demands for a new investigation, and how we ask her help for an independent, international investigation. We gave her a letter for UN commissar Koffe Annan with a request that he intervene in the problem of the Beslan tragedy. Ella Panfilova was also there and said that we need to meet and talk about Beslan with her. Ella.

The cynic in me doesn't see much point in dealing with the UN or the Kremlin human rights commissioner, Ella Panfilova, but more power to them.

The thank you note was very thoughtful and well deserved! :-)

Marina Litvinovich, who posted on befree77's blog as 'abstract2001' was attacked last night.

She is the right hand of Garry Kasparov, the former chess master turned politician and Putin foe. She also edits the English-language site Justice for Beslan, as well as several sites in Russian for the Beslan women.

At about 9 PM while leaving the office of the NGO 'United Citizen's Front' on Makarenko St in Moscow, several unknown persons attacked and beat her severely. She was knocked unconscious and kicked several times in the face. No money was taken, nor was her laptop stolen. She was simply beaten up and left lying in the snow.

She writes:
Thank you for the support and kind words. It's a lot of help right now. A little later I'll try to write about what happened. I'm in a lot of pain and can barely get around, my ribs hurt awful and my whole face is smashed except for my forehead. I'm very sad about my teeth - two were knocked out :((((

If you'd like to leave her a comment

Oh my goodness.
I'll pray for Marina's speedy recovery and safety.

There's more information here as well:
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2006/03/22/012.html

Thank you for letting me know.

I'm unable to pull up the livejournal site for some reason. Will check back to it later.