Tortured, battered and bruised, terror suspects face death penalty
RUSSIAN authorities have suggested they may execute the four men accused of attacking a Moscow concert hall and murdering at least 137 people.
The suspects, battered and bruised after being tortured during interrogation, appeared in court on Sunday charged with terror offences.
Three of the men were marched blindfolded by masked police into Basmanny district court in the Russian capital while the fourth was wheeled in.
They were named by authorities as Dalerdzhon Mirzoyev, Saidakrami Murodali Rachabalizoda, Shamsidin Fariduni and Muhammadsobir Fayzov.
Two are said to have pleaded guilty before their appearance.
Videos of brutal torture sessions during questioning were leaked by Russian security forces, showing at least one suspect suffering electric shocks to his genitals while another was forced to eat part of his ear.
Appearing in court, Mirzoyev and Rachabalizoda sported black eyes while the latter’s ear was heavily bandaged after being partially severed during his arrest.
Mirzoyev also appeared to have a torn plastic bag wrapped around his neck.
The face of the man identified as Fariduni was badly swollen while the man named as Fayzov appeared to lose consciousness as he was brought into court in a wheelchair wearing a thin hospital gown. He also appeared to have an eye missing, according to first-hand reports.
All were held in a glass-panelled booth and guarded by masked police when in court.
A statement on the Telegram messaging service said Mirzoyev had “admitted his guilt in full” while Rachabalizoda also “admitted guilt”.
The men were identified as citizens of Tajikistan, a country in the heart of Central Asia.
Court officials added that the four will now be held in pre-trial detention until at least May 22.
But president Vladimir Putin’s henchman Dmitry Medvedev yesterday claimed the state may choose to execute them.
The deputy head of Putin’s security council, the former Russian president and prime minister, said: “They were caught. Well done to everyone who caught them.”
“Should they be killed? Necessary.And it will be.”
The court appearances came after gunmen on Friday evening stormed the Crocus City Hall in Krasnogorsk, a Moscow suburb.
They fired on some of the estimated 6,000 people who were attending a rock concert.
The attackers then started fires that engulfed the venue and caused the roof to collapse.
New arrests associated with the atrocity were made yesterday.
Isroil Islomov, 62, and his sons Dilovar, 24, and Aminchon, 33, were held under anti-terrorism laws.They are believed to have sold the white Renault used by the gunman to arrive at the venue and in which they fled.
Dilovar is believed to be the last owner of the vehicle.
The Islamic State group, or Isis, said it carried out the outrage and has posted video of the massacre. The four men who appeared in court on Sunday were arrested in the Bryansk region – 250 miles south-west of Moscow – around 14 hours after the attack, said Russia’s Federal Security Service
The court appearances came after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky hit back at Kremlin claims of links between Ukraine and the terrorists, branding them “predictable” and “absurd”. Putin claimed the men who carried out the attack had tried to flee to Ukraine, helped by contacts there.
But he made his comments in an address to the Russian nation even though Islamic State extremists had already announced they had carried out the killings.
Isis released a hideously graphic video of their massacre, filmed on bodycams and including shouts of “God is Greatest” from the attackers. Kyiv was then targeted by Russian missiles again on Sunday – with Mr Zelensky visibly angry that his country was being blamed.
He described the Russian president and others in Moscow as “scum” for their accusations.
Mr Zelensky suggested a “miserable” Russian leader was more concerned about pinning blame on Kyiv than reassuring his citizens.
Extremism
He then turned the tables on Moscow, saying it had sent “hundreds of thousands of [its own] terrorists” to Ukraine since the full-scale invasion began in February 2022.
He said those troops were now brutalising Ukraine, instead of protecting Russia against the real threat of extremism, and went on to add: “They burn our cities, they torture and rape.”
Ukrainian police have opened thousands of criminal cases against Russian soldiers since February 2022, including one killing that British media investi
gated where two unarmed civilians were shot in the back.
If the terror suspects were captured in the Bryansk region, they could have been heading for Belarus, a far easier route out of Russia than crossing a minefield to get to Ukraine.
Mr Zelensky suggested that Russia should ask questions of their own intelligence agencies rather than blaming his country. That would include asking whether warning information was ignored.
The US has confirmed that earlier this month it had passed on intelligence of a possible attack.
Mr Zelensky also alluded to the theory raised earlier by his military intelligence agency that the Russian authorities themselves were linked to the Moscow outrage.
The supposed motive was to bolster Putin’s hold on power, rally support for his war and further mobilisation.
The comments hark back to longstanding suspicions in Russia over the bombing of apartment blocks in 1999 that was the trigger for Putin, who was prime minister at the time, to launch a war on the Chechen Republic.