Staff Writer MOSCOW — Pending hearings at Europe’s top human rights court into the 2002 hostage crisis at Moscow’s Dubrovka theater will be closed to the public at the request of Russian authorities. The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg has granted Russia’s request to hold the proceedings in the case, in which dozens of plaintiffs have accused Russia of violating their right to life, behind closed doors, a court spokeswoman said Friday. “Still, any decision by the court will be made public,” she said. Chechen terrorists seized the theater on Oct. 23, 2002, leading to a 56-hour siege that ended with the deaths of 129 hostages, many killed after a botched rescue operation in which special forces pumped a knockout gas into the building. Eighty plaintiffs from Russia, Ukraine, the Netherlands and Kazakhstan appealed...
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