MOSCOW, February 4 - RAPSI. The Moscow City Court has returned for review the lower court's ruling that the dismissal of the complaint over the negligence of the authorities during the Dubrovka Theater Center hostage crisis in 2002 was illegitimate, RAPSI was told in the court.

The court has thus upheld the prosecutors' appeal against the Lefortovo District Court's ruling which obliged law enforcement agencies to initiate a criminal case.
The prosecutors insisted that the Lefortovo court's ruling be dismissed because it was adopted in violation of the Criminal Code and the Code of Criminal Procedure.

In October 2002, a group of 40 terrorists held an audience of over 900 people hostage at the Dubrovka Theater. After three days of negotiations, security forces released an undisclosed gas into the building to sedate the terrorists, and then stormed the building. The gas is being blamed for the deaths of 130 hostages.

Relatives of those who died insisted on a thorough investigation, but their request was dismissed.

Following the Investigative Committee's refusal, Igor Trunov, who represents the victims' relatives, filed a complaint with a Moscow district court to hold the investigators liable for their inaction.

Investigators provided no clear arguments for their refusal to initiate a criminal case, Trunov said.

Opposition politician Boris Nemtsov also called for opening a criminal case, but his request was dismissed on December 31, 2002. The Investigative Committee's argument at the time was that none of the officials' actions constituted a crime. The committee saw no grounds to reverse its decision.

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

Relatives of the Dubrovka hostages filed a complaint with the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) against Russian authorities in 2003. On December 20, 2011, the ECHR held in favor of the applicants, but also ruled that the authorities did not violate anyone's civil rights by using gas. On November 2, the Lefortovo District Court of Moscow ruled that a case be initiated into the aftermath of the terrorist attack.