BRIEFS

–BESLAN WOMEN DEMONSTRATE

Some 1,000 people, including members of the “Women of Beslan” group, held a demonstration in Vladikavkaz, the capital of North Ossetia, on March 8 after the federal Prosecutor General’s Office refused to investigate the fact that clothes, other personal effects and body parts of victims of last September’s Beslan school hostage massacre were apparently dumped in a pit on the town’s outskirts. According to the “Women of Beslan” head Susanna Dudieva, the items were dumped on the pretext that all the necessary material evidence had already been gathered. Some of the demonstrators carried signs denouncing North Ossestian President Aleksandr Dzasokhov, the Kavkazky Uzel website reported. Meanwhile, the head of the parliamentary commission investigating the circumstances surrounding the Beslan tragedy, Aleksandr Torshin, said on March 7 that two accomplices of the Beslan terrorists had been detained while five remained at large. Torshin said the accomplices included officials with ranks “a bit higher” than major and lieutenant colonel, Interfax reported. Another commission member, Vladimir Kulakov, said the accomplices are not only in Beslan, but also on the federal level and still serving in their posts.

–GUDERMES RESIDENTS ABDUCTED

Two Gudermes district residents were abducted not far from the settlement of Oiskhar, RIA Novosti reported on March 9. A woman complained to local police on March 8 that her relatives had been kidnapped by five unknown persons in camouflage uniforms and masks who burst into her home. “Threatening the woman’s husband and nephew, the unknown persons took them off in an unknown direction,” a law-enforcement source told the news agency.