Security chiefs guilty in theatre siege -activists

MOSCOW, July 11 (Reuters) Relatives of people killed in a botched mission to free hundreds of hostages held in a Moscow theatre in 2002 sought to renew pressure on the authorities over the affair today, accusing security chiefs of negligence.

A group of about 40 heavily-armed Islamist militants seized control of the Dubrovka theatre in the Russian capital in October 2002, taking more than 700 people hostage.

After a three-day stand-off, Russian special forces pumped knock-out gas into the theatre, smashed their way in, shot dead the unconscious kidnappers and dragged out the hostages.

Though the Russian government praised the special forces' operation at the time, about 129 theatre-goers died, many of them from the effects of the powerful gas.

Tatiana Karpova, who said she represented many victims' relatives, said her group had written to Russia's top state prosecutor, pressing him to charge national security chiefs over the affair.

''The fact that they used a gas without an antidote is a crime in itself,'' Karpova, a heavy-set bespectacled 60-year-old teacher told journalists.

Her 31-year-old son died from the gas after lying and waiting for help for several hours, she said.

''There was chaos after the use of the gas and the medical centres are to blame for that.'' Karpova and other families have already failed to win any compensation from Moscow city for the deaths of their relatives.

They have started proceedings against Russia at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.

Karpova, who said the group she represented had the support of more than 1,000 people, brandished the postal receipts for the letters as evidence they had been sent to the prosecutor.

Russia has avoided saying exactly what was in the gas which knocked out everybody in the theatre, killing some.

Half the kidnappers were women and many carried suicide bombs strapped to their stomachs and backs during the dramatic siege. They demanded Russian forces leave the north Caucasus, home to the volatile province of Chechnya.

Russia has fought two wars against separatists in Chechnya since 1994. The rebels switched tactics from around 2002 and started bombing Moscow and other Russian civilian targets outside the Caucasus.

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