Moscow Court Rejects Theater Raid Cases

AP Wire | July 28 2003 | Associated Press

[knighthawk]

MOSCOW - A Moscow court rejected appeals Monday in 21 compensation cases filed by survivors and relatives of victims of last October's hostage-taking raid by Chechen rebels at a Moscow theater and the rescue operation that left scores dead, news agencies reported.

The Moscow City Court upheld rulings by a lower court that said city authorities were not obligated to pay damages for pain and suffering, the Interfax news agency reported.

Lawyer Igor Trunov has filed 64 moral compensation suits, arguing that Russian law entitles terrorism victims to compensation from the government of the region where the attack took place.

City officials argue the law on compensation applies only to material damages for loss of income, and say they have not ruled out the possibility of paying material damages.

Last week, NTV television reported that another lawyer had won about $50,000 in compensation from the city for a client also suing over the hostage raid.

Armed Chechen rebels seized a crowded theater during a popular musical in October, taking some 800 people hostage for nearly three days. A total of 129 hostages died, the vast majority from the effects of a narcotic gas used by Russian special forces to knock out the attackers before storming the theater to end the crisis.

[knighthawk]

Ping

[OpusatFR]

I see a new export to Russia on the horizon: American Trial Lawyers.

Russians need them desperately and we have way too many of the blood suckers. After all, they must have just about run out of targets if they are now going after Ben and Jerry's.

[lelio]

Russians need them desperately and we have way too many of the blood suckers.

And just think of the penalties in Russia over filling a frivolous lawsuit. None of this potential "loser pays" stuff -- off to the Gulag!