VLADIKAVKAZ, September 5 (RIA Novosti)-Investigators from the Prosecutor's General Office will try to check all the information on the Beslan terrorist attack as soon as possible, Deputy Prosecutor General Vladimir Kolesnikov said Monday.
"This may mean a month or three months," he told a news conference in Vladikavkaz, the capital of the Russian republic of North Ossetia.
Kolesnikov said the arrival of the prosecutors' group in the region should in no way be interpreted as a lack of confidence in the investigation led by Konstantin Krivorotov into the Beslan hostage-taking tragedy, which claimed the lives of 331 people, including 186 children.
Russian President Vladimir Putin met with residents in Beslan on Friday and announced at a Security Council session the following day that he was sending a group from the General Prosecutor's Office to the North Caucasus town.
"They will have to conduct a comprehensive additional check of all the information in the case," the president said.
Kolesnikov also told the news conference that he would have meetings with officials and people affected by the tragedy. He added that everything would be officially recorded, footage would be reviewed and claims heard.
According to the prosecutor, the relevant conclusions will then be made. "Even if they would be unpleasant for some people," he said, "they will be implemented in line with the Criminal-Procedural Code [of the Russian Federation]."
Kolesnikov said the check would cover everything from the use of tanks, other heavy weaponry and the liability of the emergency headquarters and that every meeting would be recorded both on audio- and videotape.
The high-ranking prosecutor also said he would continue to work with the commissions formed by the federal and local legislatures, and said he was particularly interested in the results of the work conducted by the latter, which is chaired by Stanilsav Kesayev, the speaker of the North Ossetian parliament.
Kolesnikov also said he would hold a series of meetings with senior officials in the republic, including with the president of North Ossetia.
