Probe into Dubrovka operation will be conducted after appropriate court decision takes effect - Investigations Committee
MOSCOW. Nov 16 (Interfax) - The pre-investigation probe into the anti-terrorist operation conducted in the in the Dubrovka theater in Moscow in October 2002 will only be conducted if the decision made by the Lefortovo court on this issue takes effect, the press service for the Investigations Committee told Interfax.
Igor Trunov, a lawyer for the people hurt in the terrorist attack, said the Lefortosvky Court ruling, which has found the decision not to open a criminal case against officials involved in the Nord-Ost counterterrorist operation, has taken legal effect. However, the Lefortovo Court later told Interfax the prosecutors have contested this decision, which means it has not taken legal effect yet.
"We will conduct a pre-investigation probe into the Dubrovka theater antiterrorist operation only if the court ruling takes effect," the Investigations Committee press service said.
Terrorists took over 900 people hostage during the musical Nord-Ost in the Dubrovka theater in Moscow on October 23, 2002. The hostages spent three days in the building before the special services stormed the building in the morning of October 26. All terrorists were destroyed in the special operation, and 130 hostages, including ten children, were killed.
The majority of the hostages died after the storm, which lead to accusations against the authorities stating that the gas used in the operation was harmful for people. Its formula is still a secret.
In April 2007, the Strasbourg court accepted for consideration a claim filed by 64 victims, who asked the court to order Russia to subject to criminal liability the organizers of the special operation and pay compensations in an amount of 50,000 euros for human rights violations. The case was classified at the request of the Russian Federation.
In December 2011, the European Court of Human Rights made a positive decision on the claim filed by the victims of the terrorist attack, ordering Russia to pay them from 8,000 euros to 66,000 euros in moral damages.
On February 14, 2011, Trunov said the Moscow prosecutors had reversed the decree closing the criminal case on the basis of the Dubrovka terrorist attack, saying the head of the Main Investigations Department of the Investigations Committee for Moscow had been ordered to organize an additional investigation.
In June 2012, a decision made by the European Court of Human Rights awarding compensation to the victims of the terrorist act took legal force.
On November 2, the Moscow Lefortovo Court found the investigators' refusal to open a criminal case against the officials who led the special operation in the Dubrovka theater to be illegal. However, it became known on Friday that the prosecutors' cassation appeal had been received by the Lefortovo Court back on November 12, which means that the court ruling has not taken legal effect yet. The date of the hearing has not been determined yet.
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