September 1 2024 marks the 20th anniversary of the Beslan school siege, in which more than 330 hostages lost their lives, including at least 180 children. The siege ended in a chaotic gun battle and was the bloodiest incident of its kind in modern Russian history, Reuters reports.
The three-day drama began when Islamist militants took more than 1,000 hostages in the small southern Russian town on the first day of the school year and called for independence for the majority Muslim region of Chechnya.
Chechen Nur-Pashi Kulayev was the only suspected militant arrested following the killing of all the others during the battle to free the hostages. Kulayev was found guilty despite his claims to innocence and sentenced to life in prison in 2006.
In the days and months after the attack, survivors accused the authorities of bungling the siege by using tanks, flamethrowers and grenade launchers while hostages were still cowering inside the school gym, and then covering up what happened.
In 2017, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that Russia used excessive force to storm the school in 2004, causing a high number of hostages to be killed.
Russia agreed to pay damages totaling nearly 3 million euros ($3.6 million). The case for damages was brought by 409 Russian nationals who either were taken hostage or injured in the incident, or were family members of those taken hostage, killed or injured.
