Russian Court Charges Four Men over Terrorist Attack on Moscow Concert Hall
Russian court charges four men it says attacked a Moscow concert hall and killed at least 137 people.
Three were marched bent double into a Moscow court while the fourth was in a wheelchair. All were charged with committing an act of terrorism.
The Islamic state group or is said, it carried out Friday’s outrage at crocus city hall, and posted video evidence.
The four were named by Russian authorities as Dalerdzhon Mir-Zoyev, Saidakrami Murodali Racha-Balizoda, Shamsidin Fariduni and Muhammad Sobir Fayzov.
A court statement on the telegram messaging service said Mir-Zoyev had admitted his guilt in full, while Racha-Balizoda also admitted guilt.
The men were identified as citizens of Tajikistan, Russia’s state news agency TASS said.
Read Also:
Uganda President Appoints Son as Army Chief in Major Military Shuffle
Four gunmen on Friday night stormed the crocus city hall in Krasnogorsk, a Northern Moscow Suburb, and began firing on some of the estimated 6,000 people who were attending a rock concert.
Russian authorities said 137 people were killed and more than 100 injured.
The men who appeared in court on Sunday were arrested in the Bryansk region around 14 hours after the attack, Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said. Bryansk is around 400km (250 miles) south-west of Moscow.
Officials have suggested – without evidence – that the attackers were being helped by Ukraine and Kyiv had prepared a window to allow them to cross the border and escape into its territory.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday rejected the claims, and his military intelligence directorate said it was absurd to suggest the men were trying to cross a heavily mined border, teeming with hundreds of thousands of Russian soldiers, to reach safety.
Adrienne Watson, the US national security council spokeswoman, said that IS bore sole responsibility for this attack. There was no Ukrainian involvement whatsoever.
Seven other people have been arrested in Russia suspected of aiding the attack.
