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Every page of this book is a valuable document. In it are the affidavits of the former hostages who lived through that nightmare at the theatrical center on Dubrovka. There are also the autopsies and legal resolutions about the criminal case, papers that until recently were hightly classified.
"AFTER A TERRORIST ATTACK PEOPLE ARE ON THEIR OWN""I wished to attract attention to the tragedy. To the problems of those who suffered from terrorist attacks," recounts Svetlana Gubareva, revealing the main idea behind the book: 'Nord-Ost' - Investigation Incomplete. During the terror attack on Dubrovka, the Karaganda resident lost her 13-year-old daughter, as well as her fiance.
Svetlana Nikolaevna Gubareva is one of the authors of the book. Seven people worked to gather and edit this enormous collection of information. All are members of the 'Nord-Ost' Regional Organization.
"There are a lot of people who suffered from terrorist acts, and I don't just mean 'Nord-Ost'," says Svetlana Gubareva. "Since 1995, beginning with the seizure of hostages in Budenovsk, the (Russian) goverment acknowleges that more than 15,000 people have suffered from such acts. After a terrorist attack people are on their own. This is biggest problem right now, and few people even know this. After the Moscow apartment blasts in 1999 there were 12 bodies that couldn't be buried. Seven years later, these 96 fragments of human remains are still kept at the Lianozovsky morgue, because the bureaucrats claim that the government doesn't have the money to do DNA testing. Our work on the investigation of 'Nord-Ost' took three and a half years. The authors gathered heaps of documents, digital camera images of official documents, and even handwritten notes we made from government archives that they wouldn't let us copy. We did this so that we could collect even the smallest detail of what went on during those awful October days. At first we prepared the report for the human rights organizations, who made yearly reports on the situation in Russia. Later, when things got serious enough, we thought: we should know all the rest," recalls Svetlana Gubareva. "And we decided to make our report into a separate book. It was published with the help of the 'Aid to Victims of Terrorism Fund'. We held a presentation ceremony in Moscow, which caused a bit of agitation on behalf of the authorities. Last weekend there was a presentation in Nizhniy Novgorod, and there have been invitations to other Russian cities."
"TOP SECRET" DOCUMENTS
The report is in five parts. The Introduction is titled: "Lack of Effective Preventative Measures in the Fight with Terrorism". There is a complete listing of all terrorist attacks in the last 10 years, and the special operations associated with them. Another part: "The government's Failure to Fulfill its Obligations" is where the authors use documents to show what was done, and conversely, what was not done, to save hostages. The next section is "Reaction by the Community". There are attachments which include a large amount of documents from the criminal case and materials in the media.
The Moscow city attorney general's resolutions are also included in the book. The 'Nord-Osters' with bitter irony refer to these resolutions as 'fateful'. They concern his refusal to open criminal cases. One resolution concerned the special operations troops who organized the assault on the theatrical center that led to the loss of 130 hostages, while the second was in regards to the medical workers who did not provide timely and necessary first aid to the poisoned hostages.
"They wouldn't let us have access to these documents for a long time," remembers Svetlana Nikolaevna. "They used the argument about 'investigative secrets', but under orders from judges Susina and Vasina the attorney general had to let us view both of these resolutions, together with a few volumes of the criminal case. Altogether there are more than 120 volumes in the case. When we got access to the documents, we had proof that the authorities were just wasting time."
"TIMELY MEDICAL ASSISTANCE""In the media they often state that the hostage rescue operation was 'brilliant', and text-book perfect, but our book includes materials that shows that it was anything but smooth," says Svetalana Gubareva. "Let me give you the most glaring example. In his resolution to not bring criminal charges, the head of murder and gangsterism investigations for the city of Moscow, Ibragimov, stated that the ambulance workers had all the equipment and medicine they needed, and that there were adequate medics. But in reading the materials from their investigation, we found out what these people REALLY said.
"The medics' statements are quoted in the book. So let's just place the attorney general's statement about 'timely medical assistance' (we included it in the book, how could we do otherwise?) alongside the shocking stories from physicians and medics on the scene:
"From the testimony of O.V. Belyakova: 'On arriving at the palace of culture of the Moscow ball-bearings plant (the theatrical center - author) they loaded two victims into our vehicle. Within a minute a worker from the disaster ministry told me to accompany a bus that had some victims in it. There were no medicines or medical instruments whatsoever in the bus. En route the bus stopped at all the lights. On arrival at City Hospital #1, security at first would not let us drive into the premesis. There were 22 victims on the bus, one of whom died en route. The victims were arranged chaotically, some were in seats, some were on the floor'.
"From the testimony of L.O. Safronova: 'The organization of aid to the victims and their evacuation were, in my opinion, unsatisfactory, and this was true for our brigade... I didn't know what substance was used during the special operation, so therefore no special drugs or methods for rendering first aid to the victims were used'.
Svetlana Gubareva continues: "From the testimony of M.Yu. Zaharenkov: 'Right after this a medical worker unknown to me took 6 ampules and some syringes and went into the bus where the victims were. There were 17 victims on the bus, 4 of whom were showing no signs of life'."
After receiving access to the autopsy report, the relatives of the dead hostages discovered that 67 of the 130 hostages who perished died without receiving any medical assistance whatsoever, including 5 children: 11-year-old Dasha Olhovnikova, 13-year-old Dasha Frolova, 13-year-old Kristina Kurbatova, 13-year-old Arseniy Kurilenko, and 14-year-old Nina Milovidova. Among those who received no first aid was Svetlana Gubareva's fiance, Sandy Booker, an American.
The death of 13-year-old Sasha Letyago was also a medical catastrophe. Svetlana Gubareva found out that her daughter had simply been crushed to death during transport to the hospital. Sasha's lifeless corpse was dragged out from under 30 people who had been packed like sardines (there is no other way to put this) into a 12-seat UAZ van. The official cause of death, however, was something else entirely: chronic bronchitis.
A CONVERGENCE OF CIRCUMSTANCES
It would be worthwhile mentioning the compound used by the special operations forces during the hostage rescue.
At first the gas was kept a closely-guarded secret, and a few official documents merely referred to it as "unidentified". Later, the mystery was revealed: before the beginning of the assault on the theater hall where the hostages and some of the terrorists were located, a special compound based on fentanyl was introduced into the building. Fentanyl is a narcotic used as a general anesthetic and pain-killer. People at the theatrical center who inhaled it lost consciousness. More than a hundred of the hostages who fell asleep in the theater hall never awakened. Many died simply because they did not receive medical assistance in time.
"In medical texts it's written that fentanyl is not do be used without an anesthesist present, or without equipment for performing artificial respiration. Neither was present at Dubrovka," Svetlana Gubareva bitterly empasizes. "In making the decision to use the gas, the authorities simply sentenced people to death."
After the terror act was over, the authorities maintained that the hostages did not die from the gas, but from a convergence of circumstances. The hostages had gone through terrible stress - 60 hours without food, little to drink, and almost no sleep. Many of them were suffering from chronic illnesses, and their bodies could not cope with the unexpected stress of anesthesia.
"Even if one agrees with such an assertion, the question arises," states Svetlana Gubareva. "Didn't they know about this convergence of circumstances BEFORE they made the decision to use the gas? And how was it that right up until the beginning of the gas attack, not a single hostage managed to die from all of these circumstances? Only add that one fator - the special substance - and a massive loss of hostages began."
This fact alone does more to cause relatives of the dead hostages to doubt the government's statements about the harmlessness of the substance used, than anything else.
"Then what about the rescuers and special operations soldiers who also were injured?" adds Svetlana Gubareva. "From the media it's known that 9 soliders took ill and were hospitalized. Did they also go without food, drink, and sleep for 57 hours?!"
A DIFFERENT TRUTH
The relatives and loved ones of those who died at Dubrovka do not recognize the official 'truth' that was trumpetted from on high. For three and a half years they worked at finding out the truth. They have proof in documental form, but those at the highest levels do not listen. The 'Nord-Osters' have passed through every possible step of the judicial system in Russia. They were not fighting for compensation for their pain and suffering, but for their rights.
"There are two sides to this matter," considers Svetlana Gubareva. "We have no doubts about the seizure of hostages being a crime on the part of the terrorists. On the other hand, the government did not fulfill its obligations to its citizens: the authorities let it be possible to seize hostages - Movsar Baraev, who was twice officially declared dead, was able to form up a group of rebels to seize the theater; the authorities then passed up a chance to negotiate; next the authorities used a chemical substance in an assault, without any regards for negative consequences; finally, the authorities didn't provide freed hostages with timely, sufficient medical aid. The government continues fail in its obligations, and now it is stripping us of our right to justice, an investigation by qualified personnel, and an independent judicial process."
| 'NORD-OST' IN NUMBERS More than 900 people were taken hostage by terrorists in the theatrical center at Dubrovka. 130 hostages died, including 10 children. 69 children were made orphans. More than 700 former hostages were poisoned, and many of them were permanently handicapped - 12 lost all or part of their hearing. 41 terrorists were destroyed. In accordance with a resolution by the city government of Moscow, the families of dead hostages were paid 100 thousand rubles each (about US$4000), and each hostage who survived the terror act - 50 thousand (about US$2000). 61 lawsuits were filed against the Moscow city government and city department of finance, asking for damages totalling US$60 million. The lawsuits ranged from US$500 thousand to US$2.5 million. Every lawsuit was summarily dismissed. There were also 4 lawsuits filed in the Basmanny Court in Moscow by foreign citizens, asking for a total of US$9.5 million. These were dismissed as well. 57 medals were awarded for the hostage-rescue operation. (This information is from the book 'Nord-Ost', a collection of publications on the 3rd anniversary of the terrorist attack.) |
An electronic version in Russian and English can be found on the website http://www.pravdabeslana.ru/nordost/nordost.htm
| “I DON’T WANT TO TALK ABOUT THIS” The book 'Nord-Ost' contains the articles of journalists who, in the opinion of the former hostages and relatives of deceased hostages, were very effective in bringing the case to light. Not just the nightmare in the theatrical center, but the courtroom drama as well. During this court cases relatives who had lost their loved ones were looking for answers to many questions. Among these, why did their loved ones die? Svetlana Gubareva also dined on judicial pie. Some of the events in court were observed and reported by Novaya Gazeta reporter Anna Politkovskaya. We provide here an portion of one of her articles, published in NG in April of 2004. On April 15th, in the Zamoskvoreche regional court of Moscow, a few dozen people waited in Hall 203 for the miracle of Detective Kalchuk's appearance. Vladimir Ilych Kalchuk is Lord and God to the former 'Nord-Ost' hostages and the family members of those who perished during the terror attack. For 30 months, ever since the terrorists seized the Moscow theater, Kalchuk has been chief of the investigative brigade for the Moscow district attorney's office. He holds in his hands the true facts about the tragedy, and the victims awaited and still await any information he can provide concerning the deaths of their loved ones. |