By Nikolai Gorshkov BBC correspondent in Moscow

The hostage-takers demanded that Moscow stop military action in Chechnya, and threatened to blow up the building.

The victims' families are still demanding answers

During the rescue operation special forces killed all the hostage-takers, but more than 120 theatregoers also died, poisoned by a powerful gas that was pumped into the auditorium to knock out the rebels.

One year on there is very little to remind the public of the terrible tragedy at the theatre. It has been renovated with upholstery changed from the original red to blue, and the musical is no longer running.

Outside, a memorial is to be unveiled on Thursday, but initial plans to have all the victims' names engraved on it have been dropped. A terse caption says it commemorates all victims of terror.

But the survivors of the siege and the victims' families find it hard to connect with such a memorial.

They want justice, and are still demanding answers from the authorities. How could more than 40 rebels armed to the teeth come to Moscow? What gas did special forces use to knock them out? And why did they not tell paramedics what antidotes to use to save hostages' lives?

More than 60 people have filed civil suits for damages worth more than $50m, but their cases have been thrown out by courts one by one.

Now they are appealing to the European Court of Human Rights.

The Russian public is split between those who praise the authorities for acting decisively and thus avoiding a much bigger tragedy, and those who say no lessons have been learned and this can happen again.

The authorities promised to finish the criminal investigation into the hostage-taking in time for its first anniversary.