Beslan attacker's sentence stands

Kulayev admitted taking part but denied killing anyone

Russia's Supreme Court has upheld the life sentence against the only man convicted of involvement in the Beslan school siege of 2004.

Nur-Pashi Kulayev was found guilty of murder and terrorism in May last year.

The Supreme Court rejected an application to review the sentence entered by both Kulayev and a group of victims' relatives.

The Voice of Beslan group says Kulayev's trial did not properly investigate how the victims died.

The group is not satisfied that the truth behind the massacre has been revealed.

It holds the Russian security services partly responsible for the bloodbath, in which more than 330 people died, many of them children.

Kulayev, 25, was the only survivor from a group of 32 pro-Chechen militants who held more than 1,000 children, parents and teachers hostage in the North Ossetia school for three days.

How the siege unfolded

He narrowly avoided being lynched by local people after being discovered hiding underneath a lorry not far from the school after the siege ended in a bloody battle between hostage-takers and Russian troops.

Kulayev had denied the charges.

But a court spokesman told Interfax: "Having examined the appeal of the defendant, the Presidium of the Russian Supreme Court left the sentence standing."