MOSCOW, October 19 - RAPSI, Maria Petrova. The Lefortovsky District Court in Moscow has postponed until October 25 attorney Igor Trunov's appeal against the Investigative Committee's refusal to launch a criminal case against the officials who allegedly broke the law when storming the Dubrovka Theater, he told the Russian Legal Information Agency (RAPSI/rapsinews.com).

The postponement is due to the prosecutor's and the investigators failure to appear before the court.

In October 2002, 40 terrorists took an audience of over 900 people hostage at the Dubrovka theater in Moscow. After three days of negotiations, security forces released an undisclosed gas to sedate the terrorists before storming the building. The gas is believed to have killed 130 hostages.

In response to the committee's refusal to open a case against the officials involved, Tryunov has applied to a district court to have the investigators' failure to consider his application declared unlawful and unfounded.

The Investigative Committee has stated that the opening of a criminal case in the same regard was denied to politician Boris Nemtsov on December 31, 2002. The reason given at the time was that none of the officials' actions constituted a crime. They claim there are still no grounds to reverse the previous decision.

Trunov stated previously that a criminal case should be initiated under the Criminal Code for concealing information about circumstances which threaten the life or health of an individual, or lead to accidental manslaughter or the accidental infliction of harm as a result of negligence.

The aggrieved parties lodged an application with the European Court of Human Rights against the authorities in 2003. On December 20, 2011, the court held in favor of the applicants, but also ruled that the authorities did not violate their human rights by using the gas.