The Russian Democratic Party Yabloko is in solidary with the women of Beslan who declared a hunger strike on February 9th, 2006, as a sign of protest against the curtailment of the court trial of Nurpash Kulayev, the only terrorist remaining alive who participated in the seizure of the school in Beslan. The hearings were curtailed even though many important witnesses were not questioned.

Today Alma Khamitseva, Emilia Bzarova, Svetlana Margiyeva, Marina Melikova, Zalina Diova, Ella Kesayeva, and Emma Tagayeva-Betrozova are starving. All of them are from the organization ‘The Voice of Beslan’.

The court of law in Vladikavkaz has been the only public process in investigating the circumstances of the tragedy in Beslan. The parliamentary commission produced no results during its one and a half years of work, and showed its lack of independence (from the government).

The Yabloko party supports the demands of the hunger strikers for legal and just court hearings and demands the renewal of the trial in full.

Chairman Grigoriy Yavlinsky