(SomaliNet) Russia's highest court on Tuesday upheld a life sentence for the only militant known to have survived the 2004 Beslan school siege that killed more than 300 people, rejecting appeals from the man's lawyers and relatives of the victims. Nur-Pashi Kulayev was convicted in May in the attack by a court in southern Russia. The Supreme Court upheld its verdict Tuesday, said Pavel Odintsov, a court spokesman. Ella Kesayeva, the head of Voice of Beslan group of victims' relatives, told Ekho Moskvy radio that Kulayev's trial failed to properly investigate the circumstances of the raid and botched rescue efforts.
The Sept. 1-3, 2004, attack on Beslan's school No. 1 by militants demanding the withdrawal of Russian troops from Chechnya killed 334 people, more than half of them children, as well as 31 suspected militants and 11 Special Forces soldiers. Most of the victims died when explosions tore through the school and security forces stormed the building.