ROSTOV-ON-DON, May 22 (RIA Novosti) - A militant involved in a bloody 1995 hospital attack in south Russia that left almost 150 dead has been sentenced to 12 years in prison by a regional court, the court said Monday.
Stravropol Territory Court sentenced Nur-Magomed Khatuyev under charges including terrorism, kidnapping, and illegally carrying weapons for his involvement in the attack on a hospital in Budyonnovsk led by Shamil Basayev, Russia's most-wanted man.
During the attack in the southern Russian town in 1995, Basayev's gang took 2,000 people hostage in a hospital. The ensuing siege lasted for six days and eventually claimed 147 lives, with the gang using civilians as human shields against a police operation.
After a 10-year search, Khatuyev was arrested in Minsk in May 2005 and extradited from Belarus to Russia.
Prosecutors in the case had pressed for a 14-year prison sentence. Khatuyev, who refused to testify during the trial, admitted having taken part in the raid, but his defense team said he should be acquitted of charges of terrorism and banditry.
