Beslan parents want action

2005-02-17 14:54

Moscow - Parents of children killed in a hostage seizure at a school in southern Russia renewed calls on Thursday for the resignation of the regional president, saying the government is rife with corruption and bribery and warning of repeat terror attacks.

Relatives and survivors of last year's September 1-3 crisis at School No 1 in the town of Beslan have repeatedly called for North Ossetian President Alexander Dzasokhov to be sacked, saying he was unable to prevent the crisis or resolve it peacefully.

Of the more than 1 000 hostages who were held at the school by about 31 heavily armed militants, more than 330 died in a hail of gunfire and explosions.

Susanna Dudieva, 44, whose son was killed in the crisis, said she and other relatives of the dead still had faith in President Vladimir Putin and believed that a high-level parliamentary commission would fully investigate the seizure.

But she said Dzasokhov and other top level officials in North Ossetia's government should be fired for allowing the militants to easily seize the school with such a huge quantity of weapons and explosives.

"We tell our children 'study hard and you'll grow up to be president'," Dudieva said at a Moscow news conference called to announce an open letter to Putin from a group of Beslan mothers. "What? To be a president like Dzasokhov?"

"The cemetery where our children are buried - that is Dzasokhov's business card," she said.

Dzasokhov has steadfastly refused to resign, though he fired the regional government in the weeks following the crisis.

Last month, hundreds of relatives blocked a main highway outside Beslan for more than three days, calling for Dzasokhov's resignation.

The group of parents from Beslan travelled to Moscow to meet with survivors of other terrorist attacks, including the October 2002 hostage standoff at a Moscow theatre in which 129 hostages died.

"We came here for justice," said Emma Tagaeyeva, 42.

- AP