Security operatives give evidence in Beslan case

Vitalii Zangionov, an officer of the North Ossetian Department of the Federal Security Service (FSB), gave evidence earlier today in the republican Supreme Court at a hearing of the case of Mr Nurpashi Kulayev who had participated in the seizure of school No 1 in Beslan.

Mr Zangionov said that they had had orders to establish communication with the terrorists. "From the note the gangsters threw out the school, we learnt the phone number and began to call. But the phone was turned off. In a while, the gangsters threw out another note and it read, 'We are loosing patience. Unless you contact us, we'll kill 20.' Then we tried to contact them again. We managed that and the man we talked to called himself a shahid," the witness said.

He noted that the gunmen had had only one demand during the talks. "We offered the terrorists helicopters, busses, a corridor, money, and a 'human shield,' but they told us that they had not come for money. What they demanded was that four people come to them — those were Dzasokhov, Aslakhanov, Roshal, and Ziazikov," the FSB officer said.

"Later at the talks, we suggested, because we were unable to gather all the four demanded by the terrorists, that either Dzasokhov or Roshal come to them. But the gangsters replied as follows: 'We want all the four. If any one of those people comes alone, we will shoot him dead," Mr Zangionov said.

Fifteen to twenty minutes before the explosion on 3 September, according to him, there was a phone talk with the terrorists: "I explained to the terrorists that a truck with Emergencies Ministry officers was coming to them, explained to them what the people wore and that the truck had open sides and all the rest which needed to be explained. However, as soon as the truck pulled over, an explosion occurred. After that, about three minutes after the explosion, I contacted the terrorists again and asked, 'What have you done?' The answer was: 'I obeyed the order of my commander and fulfilled my duty."

North Ossetia's Deputy Internal Affairs Minister Vladimir Popov also gave evidence as a witness at the trial. At the moment of the school seizure, Mr Popov was responsible for guarding administrative borders. He said that the gunmen had penetrated into the territory of the republic using bypass roads and reached the federal motorway between the Tsalyk and Bataka-yurt villages. "In this sector of the border, we had three checkpoints in the direction from which the terrorists came, but, unfortunately, the gunmen were driving across fields, and they only reached the road between Tsalyk and Bataka-yurt," Mr Popov said.

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