Russia on Thursday sentenced 15 men — including four gunmen — to life in prison over the Crocus concert hall attack that left 150 people dead, the deadliest assault in Russia in more than two decades.
Relatives of some of the victims of the March 22, 2024, attack — claimed by the Islamic State group — were present at a grand military court in Moscow as the verdict was delivered.
Shamsidin Fariduni, Dalerdzhon Mirzoyev, Makhammadsobir Fayzov and Saidakrami Rachabolizoda — all Tajik citizens who went on a shooting spree inside the building before setting it on fire — looked down as the judge sentenced them to life imprisonment.
Eleven other men, some of them Russian citizens, were also jailed for life as accomplices and for having terrorist links.
Four additional men, including a father and his sons, were handed prison sentences ranging from 19 to 22 years for their connections to the attackers.
The assault in the Moscow suburbs was Russia’s worst attack since the 2004 Beslan school siege.
The gunmen entered the concert hall shortly before a performance by Soviet-era rock band Picnic. They later set the building on fire, trapping many victims inside. More than 600 people were injured in the attack, while six children were among those killed.
The attack occurred two years into Moscow’s war in Ukraine, at a time when Russia — heavily engaged in the conflict — had dismissed US warnings of an imminent attack.
The Kremlin suggested a possible Ukrainian connection at the time but did not provide evidence.
Russia’s Investigative Committee said after the verdict that it had “reliably established” that the attack was “planned and committed in the interests of” Kyiv.
It also accused the suspects of plotting attacks in Dagestan.
The verdict came ahead of the second anniversary of the killings.
“For us all, it’s like yesterday,” Ivan Pomorin, who was filming the Crocus Hall concert at the time of the attack, told AFP in court.
“For us, the victims and relatives of the victims, it is not clear whether everyone has been brought to justice. It looks like these are not the people who could organise it. The investigative committee should continue its work,” he added.
The four gunmen — aged between 20 and 31 at the time — worked in various professions, including as a taxi driver, factory employee and construction worker.
They stood in a glass defendant’s cage surrounded by security guards.
According to media reports, Mirzoyev’s brother was killed while fighting in Syria, which may have contributed to his radicalisation.
Hours after the attack, the suspects were brought to court, showing signs of torture, with one barely conscious in a wheelchair. Videos circulating on social media and allegedly linked to security services appeared to show bloody interrogations.
The TASS state news agency reported this month, citing a lawyer, that two suspects — Dzhabrail Aushyev and Khusein Medov — had asked the court to allow them to fight in Ukraine instead of serving life sentences.
Throughout the war, Russia has recruited prisoners for its military campaign, offering them reduced sentences if they survive combat.
According to the lawyer quoted by TASS, Medov said he wanted to “redeem his guilt with blood.”
Prosecutors also demanded that relatives of one of the gunmen be stripped of their Russian citizenship.
Russia, which has experienced a growing conservative shift during the war, tightened anti-migrant laws and rhetoric after the attack.
The move has strained relations with some of Moscow’s allies in Central Asia, whose governments have urged Russia to respect the rights of their citizens.
Russia’s economy has long relied heavily on millions of Central Asian migrant workers.
However, migration to Russia declined after the launch of its military campaign in Ukraine, with further reductions following the crackdown on migrants after the Crocus attack.
AFP
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