“I am for peace…” In a few words, a discreet smile, a long silence, Suzana Dudieva said it all. In the middle of the mountains of southern Russia, this mother knows what she is talking about. Since in Beslan, the 1is September 2004, the return to school in the main school of this small town in the Russian Caucasus has turned into a nightmare, she is fighting for more humanity and truth.
That day, a hostage-taking in the establishment ended in a tragic outcome: 334 dead including 186 children. The memory of her only son, 13-year-old Zaour, who died amidst screams in the burning gymnasium on the day of the assault by security forces, continues to both haunt and guide her life.
Suzana Dudieva at the head of the Beslan mothers’ committee
Eighteen years later, Beslan, a small town like any other, is bustling under a blazing sun, the same heat wave that had suffocated the thirsty schoolchildren by the terrorists during the three days of detention. Kids kick a ball; their parents are chatting behind the strollers. The laundry dries on the balcony; the fountain flows under the glass roof of the cultural center; the dust floats above the dirt alleys.
On the central aisle, in the shadow of the statue of Stalin, a florist’s kiosk has opened. Two e-commerce delivery points have replaced old shops. The baker continues to deliver his hot bread. But behind these usual activities, the horrible images are still there: orders from the terrorists, children crying, endless hours without water, explosions, chaos.
Vladimir Putin and Suzana Dudieva, chairwoman of the Beslan mothers’ committee, during an interview in Moscow, September 2, 2005. / Sergei Zhukov/Pps/Afp
At the head of the Beslan mothers’ committee, Suzana Dudieva, 61, is busy. She has lost none of her energy. Her great-nephews and nieces chirp in her apartment in Vladikavkaz, the vibrant regional capital nearby. Helped by about twenty other volunteers, she also got involved with orphans. “Moscow and the authorities have not forgotten us. Much has been done to rehabilitate and support the survivors and the relatives of the victims: medical care, psychological follow-up, education and scholarships, apartments and vacations by the sea”she admits, met in the coolness of her balcony after a sweltering day.
The fight for the truth
Her son would be 31 today. “And we still don’t know why he died”, she regrets, in a breath of anger that does not subside. Life resumed. But the question-accusations remain. Denouncing the negligence, corruption and incompetence of the authorities throughout the hostage-taking, the committee of Beslan mothers, which she chairs, tries indifferently to continue its fight for the truth. “Officially, the investigation is not closed. But nothing happens”, she recalls. The European Court of Justice in Strasbourg demanded an honest and full investigation from the Russian state. In vain.
The only terrorist found alive was sentenced to life. But many others were able to flee and were never tried. No one responsible for the security force assault has been prosecuted. The official investigation left many questions unanswered. On the hidden weapons before the hostage taking and then on the unhindered arrival of the terrorist commando. On the conduct of negotiations. On the cause of the first explosion in the school, the starting point of the tragic outcome. Was it caused by outside fire, possibly from a sniper? Did the Russian forces act with flamethrowers and then with tanks? Did they thus start the fire of the gymnasium, the collapse of its roof and the death of the hostages below? What happened to the terrorists who fled?
The authorities accused in veiled terms
“The facts are there, ignored by the investigation: the shootings which caused the beginning of the chaos came from outside, not from the terrorists”, insists Suzana Dudieva. She rejects the thesis of the accidental fall of one of the bombs set by the terrorists in the gymnasium where the children were gathered. Beslan’s mothers covertly accuse the authorities. They suspect the security organs of having launched the assault to kill the terrorists, not to save the children.
Ceremony honoring the victims of Beslan School Number 1, September 1, 2022. / Yelena Afonina/TASS/Sipa USA
“If there had been an acknowledgment of mistakes, if those responsible had been punished, it would have sent a strong message, far beyond Beslan: the leaders, within the authorities, would now be afraid to hide the truth and that would prevent the repetition of such tragedies”, assures the president of the mothers’ committee. Meaningful words. And to repeat: “I am for the truth. And I am for peace…”, she explains in a discreet allusion to the current conflict in Ukraine. She is careful not to criticize “the special military operation”, according to the understatement of the Kremlin. “I cannot accept death, whatever the justification behind it”she confides, however, with a smile full of skepticism. “We must always be able to talk to each other before going to war. » New silence.
Few critical voices
In Beslan, as everywhere in Russia, the majority supports the “operation” in Ukraine, resuming the narrative hammered out for months on television. “Let’s defend the country!” If I have to go fight, I will go »slips a young policeman. “Putin, our president, is too liberal. For too long he allowed Ukrainian Nazism to develop on our doorstep. Against kyiv, you need a powerful blow and a new pro-Russian power”launches a father. “Without Putin, Russia would no longer exist! The West wants to destroy us. Against us, the Americans are using Ukraine, which historically does not exist as a country”exclaims a retiree.
Critical voices are rare – and very cautious. “The evils of propaganda run deep in people’s psychology”worries a woman. “We didn’t need this war. But it allows the Kremlin to forget the other problems. Here they areyet numerous, old and new…” The body mutilated by the fire in the school eighteen years ago, this woman is one of the miracle survivors of the tragedy.
The trauma of thirsty children
Every third day of each month, at 1 p.m., a few mothers like her meet in the school to remember. It was at this time that the assault was launched and the children’s lives changed. In the gymnasium, below a circular metal structure built as a memorial, everything has been left intact for eighteen years: charred beams, bullet-riddled walls, gutted roof, broken gym bars, smashed basketball hoops . The place is immersed in silence. On the floor were placed candles, flowers, stuffed animals… And uncorked water bottles, symbols of the trauma of thirsty children.
“As long as we are alive, we will not know the truth. Because those responsible are at a high level”, saddens Marina Pak who, in the onslaught of the school, lost Svetlana, her only daughter. With a sparkling and proud eye, she now lives for German, a cute 15-year-old brown head, her lovingly raised son. In Beslan, the memory of her daughter is preserved by a smile frozen in a photo, an immobile dress neatly stored in a wardrobe, a grave in the middle of a huge cemetery. That’s where she works. “Because you have to take care of the flowers. Flowers are life! »
On the fridge in his kitchen, among other magnets, stands out a “Z”, a letter symbolizing Russian solidarity with their army and support for the “special operation” in Ukraine. “A reflex support, almost by intuition. Our president tells us that he defends Russia otherwise the country will disappear”, Marina justifies herself. She says that in Beslan, as in other rather poor towns and villages in the depths of Russia, many men went to the front, soldiers, Cossacks or volunteers. At least three have already returned. Dead.
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Three days of anguish before the assault
Hostage-taking of school number 1 in Beslan, southern Russia begins
the 1is September 2004 at 9:30 a.m. when around 30 Chechen separatist terrorists, wearing black balaclavas and some wearing explosive belts, held around 1300 children and adults.
Over the hours, the assailants killed around twenty adults, round up the hostages in
the gymnasium and undermine the other buildings. They threaten to blow up the school at the slightest intervention. Children are deprived of water and must drink their urine.
On September 3, 2004, an explosion in the still unsolved school causes a movement of panic and triggers the intervention. The children find themselves under the crossfire of the Russian army and hostage takers. The official death toll will be 334 civilians killed, including 186 children.
In April 2017, the European Court of Human Rights condemns Russia for not having taken the necessary measures to avoid the massacre, emphasizing that “the intervention of the Russian forces contributed to causing casualties among the hostages”.