DISTRAUGHT relatives of the 330 people killed in the Beslan school massacre last September shouted down a Russian judge yesterday, forcing him to suspend the trial of the only Chechen hostage-taker captured alive.

Nurpashi Kulayev, 24, a Chechen carpenter, faces terrorism and murder charges. He is reported to have admitted to taking part in the three-day siege after masked Russian commandos pulled him from a hiding place close to the school. He denies murder.

As he was led into a cage inside the court, several mothers of the dead asked to be allowed to mete out their own punishment. Kulayev will be spared the death penalty because Russia signed a moratorium on capital punishment in 1996.

“Hand him over here and give us a gun,” one woman said.

“The women of Beslan want him for themselves. We’ll take him in our own hands and show him proper punishment,” Rita Sydakova, 44, said, wringing her hands. “We’ll give him what he deserves.”

Kulayev, wearing a black jacket and trousers, stood handcuffed and flanked by six guards as proceedings began. Parents of the victims shouted at the judge, demanding that officials who allowed the gunmen to reach the school should also be put on trial. The judge, Tamerlan Aguzarov, pleaded with them to be quiet, but eventually declared a recess.

Just one lawyer, Albert Pliyev, represented Kulayev. The prosecution alleges that Kulayev belonged to the group of 30 gunmen who drove into the small North Ossetian town of Beslan and took more than 1,000 hostages in an attempt to force Russia to withdraw from neighbouring Chechnya.

More than half of the 330 hostages who were killed in a gun battle when Russian special forces stormed the school were children. After his arrest, Kulayev was shown on television saying that the leader of the raid was following orders from Shamil Basayev and Aslan Maskhadov, the Chechen rebel commanders.

“When we asked why we needed to do it, he (the leader) answered: ‘Because we need to ignite war over the whole Caucasus,’ ” Kulayev said.

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