Nord-Ost. Memorial Book Of Lost Hostages

Ìîñêâà, 2011.— 480 ñ.— Ðóñ., àíãë. ÿç.
ISBN 978-5-7493-1595-0
ÓÄÊ 323 / 324(470+571)
ÁÁÊ 66.3(2Ðîñ)3

…The Book of Memory is but a small fraction of what we have been able to do for the 130 persons who were killed at Dubrovka, October 23–26, 2002. A person lives on in the memories of friends, relatives, colleagues.

We have collected their reminiscences, as well as the stories of sympathetic journalists.

The victims were diverse: from the very young to gray-haired elders; funny, talented, busy, dreaming of a career or finishing one with dignity. They all still live in the pages of this book and in the memories of the survivors. We hope they will live in your memory as well.

This book was published with the assistance of the Office of the Mayor of Moscow.

Cover photograph by Angelos Fasoulis, Greece.

You may download the book in.pdf format here.

To obtain a printed copy of the BOOK OF MEMORY, contact representatives of the coordinating council of the 'NORD-OST' regional public organization. Contact numbers:

(Moscow) Tatiana and Sergey Karpov (495) 704 37 02, Dmitry Milovidov 7 903 618 6194;

(Kazakhstan) Svetlana Gubareva +7 705 315 0484.

The materials published below were not included in the book for various reasons.

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(Applications nos. 18299/03 and 27311/03)

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6. Rescue and evacuation operation

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(c) Conclusions

263. It is not possible for the Court to establish an individual story for each deceased hostage: where he or she was sitting when the operation began, how seriously he or she was affected by the gas and “concomitant factors” (stress, dehydration, chronic diseases etc.), what kind of treatment was received on the spot, at what time he or she arrived at a hospital, what kind of treatment he or she received in that hospital, etc.

264. Further, what is true in respect of the majority of the hostages may not be true in each individual case, taken alone. Thus, the alleged lack of medical aid would be irrelevant in a situation where a person had already died by the time the medics arrived. Equally, the Court cannot exclude that some of the victims were amongst those who were first to receive medical assistance but nevertheless died, because they were very weak or ill and died as a result of “a stroke of misfortune, a rare and unforeseeable occurrence” (see Giuliani and Gaggio, cited above, § 192).

Will the Strasbourg Court's verdict unravel the mysteries of the 'Nord-Ost' tragedy?

Vladimir Kara-Murza: The Strasbourg court found Russia guilty of Human Rights violations during during the assault of Dubrovka in Moscow. While trying to rescue the 'Nord-Ost' hostages, the Russian authorities violated the right to life — Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

After 8 years of litigation the Strasbourg court ruled that they had to pay 64 plaintiffs compensation from 8 thousand to 66 thousand euros. This was stated in an announcement by the ECHR, which was published on the organization's website.

Our citizens who turned to the court say that the Russian authorities used unreasonable force, did not provide timely medical assistance to the hostages, as well as ineffectively investigating the attack.

We are talking with Karinna Moskalenko about whether the Strasbourg court's verdict will unravel the mysteries of the 'Nord-Ost' tragedy. Moskalenko is the lawyer for the victims of the 'Nord-Ost' attack, while Elena Milashina is a columnist from 'Novaya Gazeta', and Dmitri Milovidov is an activist for the 'Nord-Ost' public organization. What is the meaning and principal value of the Strasbourg court's verdict?

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Strasbourg reaches a decision on ‘Nord-Ost’. On December 20th, the European Court of Human Rights almost fully satisfied claims by victims and relatives of the deceased victims of the terrorist attack on the theatrical center at Dubrovka.

The applicants themselves consider today’s decision by Strasbourg to be a real victory, and had been waiting for several years. Now they hope that an objective investigation into the incident will take place. The victims and relatives of the deceased hostages filed their claims with the European Court back in 2003.

In their petitions, they demanded that those who planned the hostage rescue operation be brought to justice. The security forces at the time released a poisonous gas into the auditorium where the audience and actors of the musical ‘Nord-Ost’ were being held hostage. Information about the gas is still a secret. The plaintiffs believe that the use of this gas killed and injured not only the terrorists, but a large number of hostages as well.

They also state that the government was unable to organize necessary medical assistance to the victims. There were no measures taken to block off traffic so that ambulances could quickly reach the hospitals, and physicians at the hospitals simply had no idea how to treat people poisoned by an unknown gas. In their lawsuits, they also pointed out that there was no effective investigation into the incident.

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