Beslan (Russia) (AFP)

Relatives of the victims killed in 2004 in the Beslan (Russia) hostage crisis, which had killed more than 330 people, including 186 children, said Sunday they were still waiting for answers from the Russian authorities, accused of lies and incompetence.

Sunday marked the 15th anniversary of the massacre in Beslan, a city in the Russian Caucasus. An Islamist commando composed of Chechens and Ingushes broke into a school, took more than 1,100 people hostage in a gymnasium and trapped the building with explosives.

The assault of the security forces, after three days of negotiations, had turned to massacre. In addition to those killed, more than 700 people were injured. 12 members of the special forces had lost their lives.

Asking Moscow to reveal the truth about the siege, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) estimated in 2017 that the authorities had mounted an operation with "serious flaws" and excessive use of force.

"Unfortunately, no conclusion of the European Court is taken into account, and it is very sad," said Sunday the president of the group of Mothers of Beslan, Soussana Doudieva.

"We keep thinking back to the 1st, 2nd and 3rd of September 2004, because there are still some gray areas, some questions (...) We are worried because not everything has been done. There is no objective investigation in progress, "she added. "We are afraid it will happen again."

"We will once again appeal to the investigative services to relaunch the investigation into the Beslan attack".

A ceremony and religious service were held Sunday in the school gymnasium, which now houses a memorial where a crowd of mourners gathered, bringing lint, candles and red carnations.

- "Without discernment" -

According to the ECHR, Russia could have prevented the taking of Beslan hostages because the authorities had "at least a few days before the facts" enough "precise information on a project of terrorist attack in the region, linked to the Back to School".

Hence preventive measures described as "insufficient" by the judges, who noted that neither the administration of the school nor the public had been warned.

For fifty-two hours, parents and children had suffered a nightmare, deprived of water. Attempts at negotiation between the authorities and the hostage-takers had yielded meager results.

On September 3, 2004, a double explosion inside the gymnasium caused panic, as children tried to flee under the fire of the hostage takers. These explosions had pushed the special forces to storm in total chaos.

According to the official Russian investigation, the victims died at the time of these explosions.

But the independent ECHR investigation states that most of the explosives in the gymnasium were intact and that many dead bodies of victims were found elsewhere in the school, as if they had been used as human shields by insurgents on the run.

Autopsies to establish the causes of death were never carried out and the official version "did not contain a word of truth," according to a documentary released last week by the independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta.

"The main goal was to eliminate terrorists, not save people," the documentary said, accusing the authorities of providing false information to the public during the siege and refusing to negotiate with Chechen separatist leader Asla Maskhadov.

In an open letter published on Sunday, Ella Kesayeva, who lost several relatives during the siege, asked five Russian generals involved in the Beslan operation to respond to accusations against them.

"You are above the law, as if there was no Beslan, and for 15 years you live in peace and respect," she wrote. "Tell us who gave you the order to use lethal weapons in the school".

© 2019 AFP