A Russian judge sentenced the only surviving suspect in the 2004 Beslan school massacre, the deadliest act of terrorism in the country's history, to life in prison.``Nurpashi Kulayev has been found guilty on all charges, including terrorism, hostage-taking and murder,'' state television channel Russia Today reported from the court in North Ossetia in the Caucasus region today.
At least 32 terrorists stormed school No. 1 in Beslan on Sept. 1, the first day of the school year, taking about 1,200 hostages. The three-day siege resulted in the deaths of at least 331 people, mainly children. Rebels from nearby Chechnya, who have been trying to establish an independent Islamic state for more than a decade, later claimed responsibility for the attack.
Judge Tamerlan Aguzarov announced the sentence after reading the verdict for eight days. He already said on May 16, before he started reading it, that Kulayev was guilty. Aguzarov initially sentenced him to death but immediately commuted it to life imprisonment. Russia hasn't banned capital punishment, but imposed a moratorium on it in the 1990s.
State television said the court had ruled Kulayev sane, and so eligible to serve his prison term. It said the judge found two mitigating circumstances, that he had never been on trial before, and that he has two underage children.
The sentence comes into effect in 10 days. Kulayev has until then to appeal.
While the government says 32 terrorists were involved, some residents of Beslan have said more than that number participated in the attack and that Kulayev isn't the only survivor.
A Russian parliamentary committee concluded last year that the attack on the school in Beslan could have been prevented if it weren't for a ``long list'' of security failures, according to Alexander Torshin, who led the commission.
Chechen rebel leader Shamil Basayev, Russia's most wanted man, claimed responsibility for the Beslan attack. Russian's government has offered a reward for his death.