MOSCOW, April 13 (RAPSI) – The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has awarded about €3 million in compensation to victims of terror attack on a school in the Russian town of Beslan.

The Strasbourg court also ordered Russia to pay costs and expenses amounting to €88,792 to the applicants.

On September 1, 2004, about 30 terrorists attacked a school in the town of Beslan, in the Republic of Northern Ossetia-Alania, taking more than 1,000 people hostages. Crisis culminated in the assault of the school by government forces. 334 people died during the events, 186 of deceased were children.

Victims of the attack and their families filed seven applications with ECHR between 2007 and 2011. Complaints were merged into one by the court with overall number of applicants reaching 447.

They claimed that Russian authorities failed to prevent the terrorist attack and fulfill their duty of protecting civilians. Applicants also claimed that assault was poorly organized and that there was no proper investigation into the events.

ECHR held that Article 2 (right to life) of the European Convention on Human Rights had been violated. According to the Strasbourg court, Russian authorities were aware of the planned terrorist attack but did not take necessary measures to prevent the tragedy.

The court also exposed serious shortcomings in planning and controlling the operation of hostages’ rescue.