Free Republic

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....

MOSCOW (AP) — A Moscow court on Thursday rejected three lawsuits by six plaintiffs against the city government for damages suffered by hostages in the terrorist seizure of a Moscow theater last year. The court did not rule on the remaining 18 lawsuits because the plaintiffs had not appeared during the hearings. ``I have no words, only emotions,'' said Alexander Karpov, the father of one of the victims. His case was not among those rejected, but he said he now held out little hope for winning a judgment. Sixty-one victims of the Oct. 23-26 theater siege filed suit for nearly...

MOSCOW (AP) — The lower house of the Russian parliament has turned down two proposals to create a commission to investigate last month's theater raid in which Chechen gunmen held hundreds of hostages. Russian officials have been criticized for their handling of the Oct. 23-26 crisis, particularly for failing to inform doctors what kind of disabling gas was spread through the theater before special forces stormed in to kill the 41 hostage-takers and free the captives. The lower house turned down investigation proposals on Wednesday. Of the approximately 800 hostages, 128 have died, most of them from effects of the...