VLADIKAVKAZ, May 29 (RIA Novosti) - Women who suffered from the terror in Beslan in 2004 staged a riot in a local court when it failed to pass a verdict Tuesday on policemen accused of neglecting their duty.

The court launched hearings early Tuesday. However, Judge Vitaly Besolov failed to pronounce a verdict even at a postponed meeting at 4:00 p.m., as the complainants refused to hear it in the absence of the defendants.

The three policemen accused of negligence that allowed terrorists to seize a school in the southern Russian town of Beslan in September 2004 went on trial in March 2006. Their lawyers asked for an amnesty May 10, citing amendments to the law on amnesty for offenders who committed crimes during Russia's counterterrorism operation in the Southern Federal District.

The women, the bulk of them the mothers of children killed in the school siege, started to tear down window blinds and break windows and furniture in the court, forcing the judge to leave without saying a word.

A total of 331 people, including 186 children, were killed in Beslan.