Authorities recognize preparation of Beslan school assaulting

The assault of the school seized by terrorists in Beslan, which was opposed by local residents, had been prepared initially, Alexander Matovnikov, the presidential envoy to the North-Caucasian Federal District (NCFD), has acknowledged today.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on April 13, 2017, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) recognized that Russian authorities failed to take the necessary measures to investigate all the circumstances of the terrorist attack and the reasons of the deaths of hostages during the seizure of the Beslan school in 2004.

Alexander Matovnikov, the plenipotentiary presidential envoy to the NCFD, who had served for many years in law enforcement bodies, spoke about the preparation for assaulting the school. "They prepared to launch the assault at 4 p.m. on September 3, but the explosions in the school gym were triggered before," the TASS quotes the today's interview with Mr Matovnikov.

"The explosion mixed up all our plans; we had to change them on the spot," he has added.

Speaking of a large number of casualties, Alexander Matovnikov said that "a number of negative factors coincided."

This is the first since the terror act recognition by the authorities of the fact that the assault had been prepared from the very beginning, the "Kavkaz.Realii" has noted today.

It is noteworthy that both hostages' relatives and other local residents had strongly opposed the assault. In the morning on September 3, the then president of North Ossetia, Alexander Dzasokhov, spoke to residents of Beslan in the Palace of Culture, promising them to go on talking to terrorists and avoid the assault. An hour after his speech, two explosions happened at the school, after which the assault began.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on December 6, 2018 at 05:42 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.