Moscow Mayak Radio in Russian 0810 GMT 02 Apr 05
[Report] Moscow Mayak radio in Russian at 0810 GMT on 2 April aired the "People and Power" program. The guest was Aleksandr Torshin, deputy chairman of the Federation Council and chairman of the parliament commission investigating the Beslan school siege in September 2004.
The presenter, Yuliy Semenov, noted at the start of the interview that the North Caucasus remained the nation's most troubled region. He also noted that the Beslan investigation commission had already been working for about half-a-year.
Torshin said the commission's work had entered "the most serious stages". "We have finished gathering material, finished collecting evidence from the main persons involved, those who were supposed to have been active in Beslan, to have prevented the terrorist act, those in charge of dealing with its effects. I must say that the concern that the commission would be ignored, which was expressed six months ago, proved unfounded," Torshin said.
"There has not been a single official who would refuse to attend a meeting of the commission and speak of the circumstances of the terrorist act of which he is aware," he added.
"In fact, we now only have to invite the prime minister of our country. We have already issued the invitation and are getting ready for the meeting. We will not be summoning any other officials. We will concentrate on preparing our report. It has already been drafted but there are some moments which require clarification," Torshin said.
He said that new evidence kept coming up. The archives of recently killed Chechen separatist leader Aslan Maskhadov are being analyzed. "We have not yet drawn a final picture of the terrorist act," Torshin said.
He commented on the announcement by the Prosecutor-General's Office that the criminal case of the only surviving attacker in the Beslan hostage crisis, Nurpashi Kulayev, had been sent to court. "Our task is a bit wider than this of the Prosecutor-General's Office," Torshin said. In his opinion, this explains the fact that the progress in the commission's work is not as fast as was originally expected.
He said the commission had dozens of video and audio tapes at its disposal, including those provided by media sources. Not all the tapes are those of the Beslan siege itself. Torshin said the commission was also studying material such as Maskhadov's interview to a Georgian TV source given before the Beslan crisis. "One very interesting tape has been made available by an American TV station. It gives rise to a lot of questions. This is the footage of [former President of Ingushetia Ruslan] Aushev's negotiations on the exit of hostages conducted with [a leader of the rebels who seized the school in Beslan] Khuchbarov," he said.
The presenter asked if this was the tape on which Khuchbarov was happily smiling. "It struck me in the very heart that the person just turned towards the camera and laughed happily, just like a card player on a lucky streak, the one who never loses. He was happy," Torshin said.
He also said that "the conduct of [warlord Shamil] Basayev and Maskhadov during the terrorist act is evidence that they were its organizers". "As for those who carried it out, we are aware of the 132 people. This is clear. We would like to know who were the masterminds. Why am I of this opinion? In my view, Maskhadov had the unmissable opportunity to become the true leader of the Chechen people, a true peacemaker. If he had come over on the first, the second or even the third day, and said that he was going to lead the children away, this would have been a manly act. During these three days [of the siege] he was approached seven times. [Chechen rebel envoy Akhmed] Zakayev was approached twice," Torshin said. "Every time there was a promise we will get back to you. This never happened. Only silence ensued. There was information on websites afterwards that he had been offering his services. Not true. He had not."
As for possible representatives of the separatists who could hold talks with the Russian authorities, Torshin said Maskhadov had not been a serious candidate. "He showed his true face in Beslan. I have two possible explanations. One is that Maskhadov had been told to shut up and stay put. The other is that he had been completely unable to do anything at all and that he would have been treated as any other negotiator. All you could hear was Allah is great. What happened to the clerics who came over to negotiate? They were not allowed inside the school. A warning was given by telephone that we will start executing hostages if these bearded men come again. This is their Allah is great," he said.
A brief biography of Torshin was given during the program. He also answered assorted questions from listeners and Internet users.
Nu, zayats, pogodi!
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