Human rights campaigners estimate that since September 1999 – the start of the second Chechen conflict – as many as 5,000 people have disappeared and are feared dead.
The siege ended violently on October 26, when Russian troops were forced to storm the building after the detonation of some explosive devices inside.
On September 1, 2004, a group of 32 heavily armed, masked men seized control of Middle School Number One and more than 1,000 hostages in Beslan, North Ossetia.
Following a tense two-day standoff punctuated by occasional gunfire and explosions, Alpha Group of the FSB raided the building.
From 1999 to 2004, the Chernokozovo detention center operated as a filtration and torture camp, and human rights abuses were documented in the facility.
The cases of a Russian servicemen being tried for war crimes are few and far between, no one has been charged with mistreatment or the murder of captured enemy fighters.
In October 2004, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) agreed to try cases brought by Chechen civilians against the Russian government.