Beslan suspect pleads not guilty

Nur-Pashi Kulayev faces life imprisonment if found guilty

The only man to go on trial for the Beslan school siege in southern Russia has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Asked if he understood the nine charges, which include murder, banditry and terrorism, Nur-Pashi Kulayev, 24, said: "Yes".

Prosecutors had spent two days reading the charges and naming the 330 people who died in last September's siege in the republic of North Ossetia.

Mr Kulayev, a Chechen carpenter, faces life imprisonment if found guilty.

More than half of those who died at Beslan's School No 1 were children.

About 1,000 pupils and teachers were held in the school's gym for three days by armed militants. The siege ended when Russian troops stormed the building.

Public anger

Prosecutors say Mr Kulayev was the only survivor out of more than 30 rebels involved in the siege.

They are not expected to claim Mr Kulayev played a central role in organising the siege, but reject his assertion to police that he did not know the intended target.

Mr Kulayev's thin, unshaven face was shown on Russian state television just hours after the end of the siege.

He narrowly avoided being lynched by local people after being discovered hiding underneath a lorry not far from the school.

Masked Russian commandos dragged him, shaking, before a camera, to which he repeatedly pleaded that he had killed no-one and that he wanted to live.

The trial is taking place amid tight security at the court in the North Ossetian capital, Vladikavkaz, about 20km (13 miles) from Beslan.

A number of the crimes of which Mr Kulayev is accused are capital offences in Russia, but there is currently a moratorium on the death penalty.