Beslan marks 100 days of the hostage crisis

Many of the former hostages still cannot recover from the shock

A hundred days have passed since the hostage crisis in Beslan, southern Russia. Residents of the grieving town have not received answers to most important questions that they had after the horrible end of the bloody drama.

Beslan still continues burying victims of the tragedy. Dozens of children are still staying at Moscow hospitals, about 20 of them are in severe condition, the Noviye Izvestia newspaper wrote. The residents have recently bid farewell to Arthur Ktsoyev, who died at a Moscow hospital despite three months of life-saving efforts. Those, who managed to survive the crisis, visit the site of the tragedy every day. People come to School 1 in all weathers to pay tribute to those, who fell victims to the monstrous terrorist attack.

The ruins of the gym, where terrorists kept the hostages, are all filled with flowers and toys. One of the walls is decorated with small paper angels: each angel carries the name of a killed child.

There are various rumors in the town as far as the fate of the school is concerned. Some people say that the ruins will be leveled, and a memorial board will be unveiled to honor the killed schoolchildren. Others believe that there will be a chapel built on the site of the school. There is another variant too: to level the school, but leave the ruins of the gymnasium intact and cover the ruins with a glass dome. It is not ruled out that the local authorities will take Beslan residents' opinion into consideration, when they make the final decision about the memorial complex.

Beslan's major problem at the moment is the moral state of former hostages and their relatives. They are deeply dissatisfied with the authorities: “I just can't watch their attempts to right themselves. They say they are not guilty. Who is guilty then? Why wasn't the school guarded? Why did all of our police officers patrol a highway that day? We are being told that we are supposed to keep silent during the mourning time, as the Caucasian tradition says. Does it match the tradition, when our children die? We wrote a letter to President Putin, but we have not received a response from him yet. They tell Kremlin officials that there are just several residents in Beslan, who express their indignation. There are a lot of people like that there,” a woman, who lost her 10-year-old daughter, said. They are trying to insinuate us with money, but who needs this money? Look at those children, who survived the crisis! Many of tem are still shocked,” the woman said.

It is rumored that people do not receive the money that various organizations transfer to Beslan. According to another rumor, the local government has taken control over the financial help and will not give anything to protesters, the Noviye Izvestia writes.

Mairbek Tuaev, the chairman of the local committee, rejects the rumors. The official says that the Ministry for Labor and Social Protection of North Ossetia distributes all money appropriately, according to committee's lists.

”We have already organized payments to relatives. Every relative of 317 killed children will receive one million rubles, 700 and 500 thousand rubles will be paid to those, who were injured in the siege. Everyone will receive the financial help by the end of this year. I can officially declare that all the money on our account will be paid to the victims of the hostage crisis and their relatives,” Mairbek Tuaev said.