Terror Strikes Again in Beslan
Filed under: Russia
Apparently, Vladimir Putin's Kremlin doesn't think the families who lost their children in 2004's Beslan hostage massacre have suffered enough, not when the terrorists grabbed the kids, not when Putin's forces raided the building and the resulting conflagration incinerated them. So it's going to put the parents in prison.
That's right, prison. That is, of course, unless they agree to stop squawking about minor details like what happened and who's responsible, learn to stop worrying and love their proud KGB spy president in a properly patriotic manner.
The Financial Times reports:
Campaigners who lost their relatives in the Beslan school siege are due to be put on trial in Russia on Monday after prosecutors charged them with extremism for blaming President Vladimir Putin's regime for the 2004 massacre. The case, brought by prosecutors in the north Caucasus region of Ingushetia, was the latest example of Russian authorities trying to stamp out criticism with a recently toughened extremism law, observers said. "The authorities are doing all they can to close us down," said Ella Kesayeva, co-chairwoman of the Voice of Beslan movement, which last summer filed a case against Russia in the European Court of Human Rights for failing to investigate the massacre properly. The movement is trying to conduct its own investigation. Critics such as Ms Kesayeva's group say evidence shows law enforcement agencies botched the school siege in Beslan, North Ossetia, where Chechen terrorists held more than 1,000 people hostage. The siege ended with more than 330 people dead -- the majority children -- after special forces stormed the school. "If the court rules in the prosecutors' favour, they can bring criminal charges against us if we don't close down," said Ms Kesayeva. "We are victims. We should be on rehabilitation programmes, not being persecuted."
If you criticize Vladimir Putin, you go to prison. You think he murdered your children? Shut up about it, unless you want to follow them into the grave. I would challenge anyone to explain how this behavior is one whit different from what we saw from Russia in Soviet times. To call it "barbaric" might well be an insult . . . to barbarians.
Radio Free Europe has more details on this horror.
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