The four suspects of having committed the bloody attack on the Crocus concert hall on Friday, on the outskirts of Moscow, have appeared in court for the first time with evident signs of violence. The alleged perpetrators of one of the largest massacres perpetrated in Russia in this quarter of a century were brought to the disposal of the Moscow Basmanni district court this Sunday night. The attackers, charged with terrorism, who could be sentenced to life imprisonment, will remain in preventive detention for the moment. Most of the session took place behind closed doors, according to Russian authorities to avoid disclosing details that would affect the families of the victims.
The Russian authorities have not confirmed their possible link with the Islamic State, an Islamist terrorist group that has claimed responsibility for the attack and has published a video recorded by the attackers themselves – with their faces blurred – in the leisure center during their massacre. At least 137 people were killed and more than 140 were injured in the attack.
Although Russian authorities have established some links between the assailants and Ukraine, the only confirmed information so far is that the detainees, all Tajik nationals, lived in Russia. The alleged attackers appeared before the judge one by one and completely emaciated. The defendants were supported by interpreters because two of them did not speak Russian.
The last of the four to be brought before the court, identified as Muhammadsobir Fayzov, brought to court in a wheelchair, was unable to speak or open his eyes. According to the data provided by the authorities, the young man, 19 years old, lived in the Russian city of Ivanovo, about 250 kilometers northeast of Moscow; He was single and unemployed after having worked as a barber in that town.
Moscow points fingers at Ukraine
Russian media have published more alleged details about Fayzov. According to the Shot channel, this alleged murderer opened fire on the agents who intercepted them on the M-3 highway, which connects Moscow with Ukraine, about 150 kilometers from the border. As a result of the chase after skipping a checkpoint with the white Renault he was driving, Fayzov was injured. President Vladimir Putin assured on Saturday that the attackers had support from the Ukrainian side to cross the front, although the authorities have not explained in more detail how they intended to cross two areas as extremely guarded as the Bryansk border region and the Bryansk front itself. war.
Join EL PAÍS to follow all the news and read without limits.
Subscribe
Another of the accused is Shamsidin Fariduni, a 25-year-old Tajik citizen, married with an eight-month-old baby and registered in the Russian city of Krasnogorsk, although he officially worked in a factory in Podolsk. His face was swollen from the effects of the blows when he entered the Moscow court. According to recordings released online after Fariduni's arrest and interrogation, this alleged attacker was beaten and interrogated in an open field as soon as he was arrested last Saturday.
In one of the videos released of the interrogation, the detainee stated that he was contacted via Telegram by an unknown mediator, “without a name, without a surname”, who proposed that he carry out an indiscriminate massacre in exchange for half a million rubles, about 5,000 euros. To the change. “I killed for money,” he added, visibly scared in front of the Russian security forces.
One of the Telegram channels close to the Russian mercenary group Wagner broadcast another photograph of Fariduni this Sunday in which the suspect was lying with his pants down and his genitals supposedly connected to a TA-57 military telecommunications device, which may also be manipulated to be used as a means of torture with electric shocks. According to the Ria Novosti agency, Fariduni published several photos on his Instagram profile geolocated in Istanbul on February 23. One of the photos presumably included the Fatih mosque.
The alleged terrorist Rachabalizoda Saidakrami Murodal, 30 years old, married with a son, arrived at the room standing, although with a huge bandage covering the right side of his head. According to a video leaked by security forces to Russian Telegram channels such as Shot, security forces cut off his ear and put it in his mouth at the time of his arrest. The alleged terrorist admitted his guilt before the judge.
Murodal testified after Dalerjon Mirzoev, 32, registered in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk – about 3,500 kilometers from Moscow – married and with four children, including two year-and-a-half-old twins. Mirzoev was the first to be brought before the court. The detainee appeared with blows to his face – more than those he presented in the first images after his arrest – and a plastic bag tied around his neck.
Follow all the international information on Facebook y Xor our weekly newsletter.
Subscribe to continue reading
Read without limits
_