Echos of the Domodedovo terrorist attack: rehabilitation of the suspects and the guilty

“The attitude of the investigators and staff at the Moscow detention center is honest and fair.” These are in fact very rare words in Russian judicial practice, and come from the mother of Magomed Yevloyev, the suicide bomber who killed himself in a blast at Domodedovo airport, and in doing so killed 37 and wounded more than 120.

The investigators in charge of looking into the largest terrorist attack on an airport were honored with this evaluation after having acquitted the bomber’s sister Fatima and his friend Umar Aushev. Originally the investigators considered Fatima a terrorist, and suspected that she had helped her brother prepare the bomb, while Aushev allegedly drove the suicide bomber from their home village of Ali-Yurt to Nazran, from where Yevloyev traveled to Moscow.

A tragedy, especially one of such a magnitude as the bombing of Domodedovo airport, certainly raises questions as to the responsibility for what happened.

The innate sense of justice of the victims’ relatives, in particular, begs the question. In their hearts the pain of loss will be felt for decades, and probably for life. Punishment of the guilty, if not a cure for the pain, somewhat ameliorates it. The truth and a just retribution because of people’s deaths are a rare thing in Russia, as was clearly demonstrated at ‘Nord-Ost’, Beslan, and other terrorist attacks where victims are still trying to achieve real investigations into the cases, as well as assistance from the State. Will relatives of those killed and survivors injured in the terrorist attack at Domodedovo ever get the truth? Will those who are by law supposed to be in prison take their places there, or will it instead be scapegoats on trumped-up charges?

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Officers from the Moscow metropolitan security service (OSB) planted a fake bomb on the premises of the 7th precinct of the Moscow metro during an exercise, according to the website for the Moscow directorate of the Interior Ministry.

According to the report, the results of the exercises were not satisfactory, because “department staff and managers did not observe the proper sequence of actions during an emergency situation.” In connection with this, some members of the unit received disciplinary actions, and the chief of the unit is to receive a severe reprimand.

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On September 15th, the 7th Congress on Victims of Terrorism will be held in Paris. Three hundred relatives of terror victims, as well as politicians and representatives of the security services, will try to find some new ways to counteract terrorists. Human suffering, however, is but one of the faces of terrorism — the other being its huge financial cost. Insurance companies are combining into pools to provide compensation for damages from terrorist attacks, while for ten years France has been the world leader for this type of insurance.

France was the first country to set up a universal pool for damages from terrorist attacks on a large scale. Already back in November 2001, two months after the attacks on the World Trade Center, an insurance pool by the name of Gareat appeared, supported by unlimited government guarantees. A year later, in September 2002, a similar pool also appeared in Germany. The German Extremus, like its French counterpart, is based on government guarantees, but is limited to 10 billion euros, and nuclear, biological, and chemical risks do not fall within the scope of this pool. Anti-terrorism insurance is not compulsory in Germany, either, so for now only about thirty percent of German companies have this type of insurance.

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Terrorism is a global phenomenon affecting all societies. It is never justified. Terrorist organizations will find their own way to commit crimes. They will use various methods of action. They will act against different objectives. But, whatever the chosen course of action, terrorism will always be an unjustified and unfair, cruel, abominable crime as it seeks to undermine the most elemental human rights of people and communities.

But whatever the course that terrorists choose to manifest themselves, its victims are the same. Regardless of the country, the socio-political situation, the motivation or criteria by which its victims are selected, they are all created equal: innocent human beings, by no fault of their own, and owing to what some may call fatal destiny, become victims of assassination, kidnapping, torture, extortion, blackmail and threats. They are violently altered by terrorist action. And victims are the whole society, a society that feels the never-ending threat and the risk of terrorist action, and are ultimately altered by the reality of their possibility any day, any hour.

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