Proceedings Against Salman Raduyev Start

The Prosecutor-General's Office has officially reported about the start of proceedings against Salman Raduyev. RIA Novosti has quoted the Information and Public Relations Department of the Prosecutor General's Office as saying that the court proceedings against four participants in an armed raid at the Dagestani town of Kizlyar in 1996 will start in Makhachkala on November 15. Apart from Raduyev, Turpal-Ali Atgeriyev, Aslanbek Alkhazurov and Khusein Gaisumov will be on the bench. On January 9, 1996 Dzhokhar Dudayev personally ordered Chechen militants to storm Kizlyar and Pervomaiskoye in Dagestan. The bandit raid involved some 300 militants who took hostage over 3,000 civilians. The raid left 78 servicemen, Interior officers and Dagestani civilians killed, and several hundred wounded. Salman Raduyev will face over 10 Criminal Code points of indictment, including terrorism, a brutal murder, the organising of illegal armed formations, kidnapping and banditry. In addition to that, he is accused of organising an explosion at the Pyatigorsk railway station in April 1997 and kidnapping Penza OMON policemen in December 1996. A spokesman for the North Caucasus Department of the Prosecutor General's Office specified that Atgeriyev is accused of terrorism, organising illegal armed formations, kidnapping, taking hostage and robbery. Gaisumov is charged with terrorism, banditry, illegal acquisition and storage of arms and ammunition.