Budyonnovsk residents pay tribute to victims of militants' attack in 1995

Today, Budyonnovsk hosted mourning events to mark the 17th anniversary of the attack on the city and capture of the city hospital by grouping of Shamil Basaev.

Let us remind you that on June 14, 1995, a group of armed militants led by Shamil Basaev, which, according to the Russian FSB Department in the Stavropol Territory, consisted of 195 persons, attacked the city of Budyonnovsk. They took more than 1500 hostages and for six days kept them in the building of the local hospital without food and water. During the attack, 129 persons were killed, including 18 militiamen and 17 soldiers, and 415 persons got gunshot wounds.

Today, according to Svetlana Kurtasova, Deputy Chief of the Budyonnovsk administration, mourning rallies and laying flowers took place in several places, including the hospital and the cemetery, where the city residents, who fall victim to the capture of the city, were buried.

"On June 14, Budyonnovsk hosted two mourning rallies. The first on was held to honour the memory of the deceased policemen, and the second on to honour the memory of the deceased helicopterists," the "Interfax" quotes Svetlana Kurtasova as saying.

The Budyonnovsk museum of local lore, the Hall "Preodolenie" (Overcoming) with a collection of objects, evidencing the events of June 1995, held themed excursions. In the morning, the churches of the city held memorial services, and burial services were held at the city cemetery, where the deceased city residents were buried, and at the chapel in the territory of the city hospital. Exactly at 12:20 a.m. the attack time Budyonnovsk residents paid the tribute to the memory of the deceased persons by one minute's silence, the "Stavropol Pravda" reports.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that earlier, courts pronounced verdicts against 20 militants, who participated in the attack on Budyonnovsk.

One of the recent verdicts was pronounced against Abubakar Mezhiev and Igor Sokolov: in July 2009, the court of the Stavropol Territory sentenced the Chechen residents to 11 and 13 years of imprisonment in a common security colony.

About 20 persons on the case of the attack on Budyonnovsk in 1995 were put in the wanted list. This was stated on June 22, 2011, by Artyom Melnikov, Chief of the General Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation in the North-Caucasian Federal District (NCFD).