Survivors of the "Nord-Ost" theater hostage tragedy, which claimed 129 lives in October and left many more with lasting physical and psychological scars, had their first day in a Moscow court on Jan. 16, when legal proceedings into their compensation case finally opened.

But their legal team, led by lawyer Igor Trunov, says it is apprehensive about the plaintiffs' chances at a fair hearing in a courtroom that is under the jurisdiction of the city government – which is also the defendant in the case. Even if the victims win in court, their lawyers fear they may be awarded miserly sums as compensation – a fear backed by recent statements from city officials.

"We know that Moscow officials will most probably not honor our demands, but they have to know that we are not satisfied with the way the whole issue has been handled," said one plaintiff, who is still in mourning for a son lost in the tragedy. "We believe that someone, through failure or gross negligence of official duties, was responsible for the hostage crisis and the heavy toll that resulted from its resolution. The money paid as compensation was more a humiliation than a consolatory gesture."

Trunov's fears about the court case were compounded earlier this month, when on Jan. 4 sitting judge Marina Gorbacheva tried to refuse to hear another lawsuit launched by 10 more victims and families. Scores have come forward to join the suit led by Trunov or to file lawsuits of their own since the crisis, and previously their cases had been accepted into the court's dossier. In this month's case, the intervention of the court's chairman permitted the group to join, but Trunov said the incident is a bad omen.

The plaintiffs' lawyers requested Thursday that the judge be dismissed and the case moved to another venue, or sent to the Supreme Court to strip the Moscow government of influence on the court. Their motion was later denied.

"City Hall subsidizes the city's judiciary system and provides the judges with free apartments and telephones – in contravention of Article 24 of the Russian Constitution, which prohibits such practices – so it's hard to believe in their impartiality," Trunov noted.

The current legal tussle began in November, when some former hostages and relatives of the dead, unsatisfied with the monetary compensation handed out by the city government, petitioned the court for higher compensation for their psychological and physical suffering and, in some cases, the loss of family bread-winners.

City Hall paid 50,000 rubles to each survivor and 100,000 rubles to each family of someone who died. City Hall – and not the federal government – is the defendant in this case because existing legislation places the onus on local administrations to compensate victims of terror attacks that occur in their regions, legal experts said.

Prior to Thursday's hearing, Trunov said the compensation was generally inadequate and did not differentiate enough between the degrees of loss suffered. "Now they are asking for individual financial compensation ranging from $450,000 to $1.5 million. At the moment, 51 suits have been filed, and the sum of their collective demands amounts to about $60 million," he said, adding that "more suits are underway."

Anatoly Kucherena, a prominent Moscow defense lawyer, told Gazeta.ru that the plaintiffs have a good chance of formally winning the case, but noted they have very slim chances of receiving the sought-after amounts of compensation.

"It will be difficult to establish a cause-and-effect relationship. In other words, it'll be extremely difficult to prove the plaintiffs needed treatment because of their exposure to the [opiate] poison gas… during the hostage event – and, second, that the plaintiffs lost their ability to work on those grounds," he said.

Kucherena also noted that it is extremely difficult to prove psychological damage is worth $1 million in Russia, where courts are famous for awarding small compensation sums.

"This is in line with established judicial practice, which dates back to the Soviet era. Consequently, Russian courts, unlike most foreign ones, do not have a tradition of awarding substantial sums as compensation for psychological damages. In this context, even if the court honors the plaintiffs' demands, compensation sums will be much less than the amounts sought," he said.

Sergei Tsoi, the mayor's press secretary, said the suits are unjustified. "Blaming Moscow will be tantamount to holding it responsible for the terrorist act simply because it took place in the city. City Hall will never agree to such a postulation," he added.

Reiterating the official position, Moscow City Duma Speaker Vladimir Platonov has offered economic arguments against the case, saying the city government does not have the money to meet the demands even if a court rules that it must pay. "There is no provision for such expenditures in the city's 2003 budget," he said.

Similarly, the city's First Deputy Premier Oleg Tolkachyov told Ekho Moskvy radio Wednesday that Moscow does not consider itself guilty of the tragic outcome of the hostage crisis.

"We've done everything that needed to be done in this case, including providing more-than-sufficient financial compensation to the victims," he said.