Victims of Beslan terror act punished for pogrom in the courtroom

Three ladies-activists of the "Beslan Mothers" Committee - Rita Techieva, Zalina Guburova and Mziya Kochishvili - were fined for the pogrom in the building of the Pravoberezhny District Court of North Ossetia, which had considered the case of three militiamen accused of negligence in connection with the capture of hostages in Beslan in 2004. The women, whose actions have been recognized as disorderly conduct, are not going to pay any fines.

The court has found the actions of the activists of the "Beslan Mothers" to be disorderly conduct conjugated with disobedience to legal demands of the power agent in charge of defending the public order (Article 20.1 of the Code of Administrative Offences), the "Kommersant" newspaper writes in its today's issue. The Article assumes arrest for the term of up to 15 days, but the court preferred not to punish the women severely, having fined each of them by one thousand roubles.

Aneta Gadieva, an activist of the "Beslan Mothers," has stated that madams Guburova, Kochishvili and Techieva will plead guilty only after the real culprits of the Beslan tragedy - the members of the operative headquarters for releasing hostages - appear on the prisoners' dock.

Teimuraz Chedzhemov, representative of the victims, has expressed his opinion that "by this decision the authorities have demonstrated their adherence to the law in trifles": "However, when they really need to adhere to the law, they fail to exhibit such fidelity to the principles."