Relatives of the victims of the Moscow theatre siege, which ended when Russian troops gassed the Chechen gunmen and 800 hostages a year ago, suspect the true casualty figure may be much higher than the official total and are demanding information from a tight-lipped Kremlin.
Officially 129 hostages and 40 Chechen gunmen died when a knockout gas was used to disable those inside the theatre, which had been taken over on Oct. 23 by armed separatists threatening to kill the entire audience of the musical Nord Ost if Russia did not withdraw its troops from Chechnya. But 12 months later a veil of secrecy still surrounds the ending of the siege.
Relatives still do not know how many people died when Russian special forces ended the three-day siege at 5.50am on October 26. They are also angry because the government refuses to admit their relatives died because of the potency of the gas. The death certificate refers to each as a "victim of terrorism," claiming they died from heart attacks or other physical ailments.
Fears over the true number of victims are focused on an album of photographs of the dead seen by many relatives at a morgue in the Lefortovo region of Moscow used by the Russian security service, the FSB. The morgue in Lefortovo was only one of a number of places to which the dead were taken.
The days after the assault on the theatre, relatives went between hospitals and morgues across the Russian capital searching for their family members who had been transferred there directly from the theatre.
Although around half of the survivors were taken to Hospital 13, the remaining dead and wounded were sent to at least three other hospitals or morgues. Lists of the survivors were posted on hospital gates. Photo albums of the dead were prepared at the morgues.
Parents searching for their loved ones in each morgue were shown a file containing the faces of the theatre dead that were held there. According to some relatives, the Lefortovo file contained 140 photographs.
Irina Khramtsova, whose father Fedor, 45, died in the siege, said: "The day of the assault nobody knew about the Lefortovo morgue. As a result, on Oct. 26, a lot of people were running from one morgue to another without finding their relatives. Those who visited the Lefortovo morgue were shown, as in the other morgues, a special album, entitled Nord Ost, where there were photos of the dead bodies, each numbered."
Dmitri Milovidov, who lost his 14-year-old daughter Nina, said: "A lot of people have seen this album, and we would like to see it again. But everything is kept in secrecy. We were not even allowed to see the bodies of our children. They were wrapped up with only the tips of the hands and legs, together with their faces, exposed. We don't know who died from bullets, and who from the gas."
Even if the 140 in Lefortovo included all 40 Chechen gunmen and women, who entered the theatre with explosives strapped to their bodies, it would still mean that 100 dead hostages were kept in Lefortovo. This would suggest the final death toll was a lot higher than the official figure of 129, a gross embarrassment for the Kremlin. A presidential spokesman declined to comment.
Fears have also grown because lists of those suspected of being in the theatre have been published on the Internet at www.zalozhniki.ru. One says 137 hostages were killed, although some familiar with the seven new names say their relatives have failed to provide proof to support their claims. Another list says there were 979 people in the theatre, another that 67 people are still unaccounted for.
Relatives doubt that the Moscow prosecutors' office, which conducted a meticulous investigation into the siege, has a complete list of everyone in the theatre. This would enable a list of victims to be checked and finalized.
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was