Your honor,

 Two and a half years ago, on October 25th, 2002, sitting in the theater hall that had been seized by the terrorists, we were hoping that we could all remain alive.  Unfortunately, the prestige and politics of the government turned out to be priorities (even Mr. Kalchuk in his investigations stated this).  An assault was undertaken, and, as a result, 130 persons died, many of them children.  Sixty-seven children were orphaned.  They had their childhoods, parents, and futures stolen from them.  More than 800 former hostages were maimed morally and physically.  The government guarantees us our right to life.  How can it be that my family had this right taken away from them, who is responsible for what happened?  These are the questions, to which I desire answers.  I have this right.

It would seem to be in the interests of the government to conduct a careful investigation, so that such madness is not repeated.  For two and a half years, the district attorney's office has been conducting an investigation, and for these two and a half years I have not received an answer to any of the questions, which I have given the investigative group's chief, Mr. Kalchuk, in repeated personal conversations (which he does not deny), and in written communications with agencies of the Russian government.  During our last session, Mr. Kalchuk declared that, to me, Sandy Booker was no one.  It would have been more correct to say that all of us, the former hostages, alive and dead, and the relatives of the hostages, were no one to him.  How can one otherwise explain the fact documents, which we were allowed and should have had access to, were kept from us, and that we had to fight for almost two years with the very same district attorney's office to see them?

The investigation does not try to hide the contradictions in the case materials, which are reflected in the Attorney General's resolutions from December 31st, 2002, and October 16th, 2002.  I will not repeat these, since they are enumerated in my complaint of March16th, 2005.  I will merely focus your attention on a few of them:

All the hostages who survived were diagnosed as suffering from 'poisoning by a substance with a narcotic action', but the conclusion of the medical experts was that the substance used had no relationship with the loss of my family.  The deaths of the hostages were written off as the effects of a complex of unfavorable factors, even though for 57 hours up to the gas attack, before the use of this 'special substance', not one person died from any of these unfavorable factors.  Who is mistaken, the doctors, or the experts?  Perhaps the truth is deliberately hidden?

In the Attorney General's resolution, it was stated that the investigation did not determine what exactly was in the substance, yet it concludes that it was harmless.  We, the hostages who went through the gas chamber organized for us by the special forces, have received a whole 'bouquet' of illnesses, and some of us have become invalids.  Who will answer for this?  Why, even now, do they hide the ingredients in the substance they used, preventing us from receiving effective treatment?

The investigation has not reliably determined the number of hostages who were killed: was it 130, or 174, or perhaps even more?

The absence of an impartial evaluation of the special forces' actions, or in the organization and conduct of their work, and the concealment of many facts important to the investigation of what went on at 'Nord-Ost' possibly led to the even more terrible tragedy in Beslan where more than 300 persons, half of them children, were killed

I cannot neglect to mention an event that happened several years ago in the US, one that reminds me of our situation.  Forces from the FBI together with weapons and personnel from other government agencies stormed a religious sect's compound, and used tear gas.  A fire started during the assault, and people died.  Then results of an investigation almost led to the removal of the American attorney general, and several FBI supervisors were fired, and decisions were made to change the work of the special services.

In Russia, however, even before the investigation was complete, before the circumstances were explained, awards and decorations were presented.  I would guess that these people would now do everything in their power to prevent from punishing and imprisoning those whom they rewarded.  They will fight for their own well being to the very end.  Nonetheless, I believe that justice will prevail.  Today, April 25th, 2005, two and a half years after the deaths of my loved ones, I still hope that a higher court, perhaps in Russia, or in Strasburg, will put everything to rights, and assign a cost and significance to all the deeds, criminal and non-criminal.

In conclusion, I would like to say that, independent of this court's decision today, I am grateful to the judge for meeting with me and examining the case in my presence, that I thank the judge for allowing me to acquaint myself with materials, to which the district attorney refused to grant me access.  Unfortunately, I never received an answer to my questions.  On the contrary, even more questions arose, yet I still hope to get answers to them.

Thank you for allowing me to speak.