Three suspects in Moscow concert hall attack plead guilty in court

Three of the four suspects charged with the March 23 attack on Moscow’s Crocus City Hall, a shopping mall and music venue that killed 133 people, appeared in court on Sunday admitted taking part in the massacre. The court also ordered the four Tajik citizens to be held in pretrial detention until May 22.

The four suspects were arrested on Saturday along with seven others for their role in attacks in Khorasan by the Islamic State, a terrorist group active in South-Central Asia, mainly Afghanistan.

The suspects Dalerdzhon Mirzoyev (32 years old), Saidakrami Rachabalizoda (30 years old), Mukhammadsobir Faizov, 19 years old) and Shamsidin Fariduni (25 years old) were formally charged by the Moscow Basman District Court with “committing a collective terrorist attack resulting in death.” ”, which carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment, Associated Press News agency reports.

The three suspects who pleaded guilty are Mirzoyev, Rachabalizoda and Fariduni. Fazov was brought to court in a wheelchair and wearing a hospital gown with multiple wounds. He had medical staff present during the hearing.

Three other people also had visible bruising and severe swelling on their faces, and Russian media reported that they had been tortured during interrogation.

this Associated Press Reports said Ratchabalizoda came to court with a heavy bandage on his ear. There are reports in Russia that one of the four had an ear cut off during interrogation.

However, these reports have not been confirmed.

Over the weekend, Russia’s state-run Channel One television broadcast footage of four suspects being detained and interrogated by authorities.

Channel 1 said the suspect was detained in the village of Hatsun in the Bryansk region near the border with Russia and Belarus. AFP the report said.

During interrogation, one of the suspects was asked what he was doing at the concert hall and he responded: “I shoot people…for money.”

The man also said in broken English that he had been offered “half a million rubles ($5,425)” and had received half of the payment.

The Russian Telegram channel also shared a video in which a man can be seen walking out of the forest with blood on his face, possibly from his ears. sky news the report said.

In another video posted by Russian state television editor Margarita Simonyan, the same man can be seen kneeling to answer questions.

On Saturday, the Islamic State released what it said was a photo and body camera footage of the March 23 shooting at Krokus City Hall, which it said was Russia’s deadliest attack in 20 years.

The terror group’s Amaq agency said on the Telegram app that the photo showed four suspects storming a large Moscow concert hall, firing a large number of gunshots and setting the venue on fire.

“This attack occurred against the backdrop of a fierce war between ‘Islamic State’ and anti-Islamic states,” Reuters news agency Amaq was quoted as saying in a statement citing security sources.

The group, which has sought to control large swathes of Iraq and Syria, has also released footage of attacks that Amaq said were taken by the perpetrators en route to carrying out the attacks.

The video, posted on the group’s Telegram channel, shows at least three men, one carrying a backpack, a second holding a knife and a third carrying a rifle.

The suspect’s appearance in court came as Russia observed a national day of mourning on Sunday.

In an address to the nation about the attack, Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed to “justly and unavoidably punish” the perpetrators, organizers and those who ordered the massacre.

“We will identify and punish every person who supports the terrorists who orchestrated this atrocity against Russia and against our people,” he said on Saturday.

Putin also said the gunmen tried to hide and travel to Ukraine after carrying out the massacre.

But Ukraine has denied involvement in the terror attack, with President Volodymyr Zelensky saying “Putin and other thugs just want to blame someone else.”

Russia canceled events at cultural institutions and flags were lowered across the country.

People visited a makeshift memorial near the concert hall, leaving flowers and other items to mourn the victims.