Current:Home > FinanceCourt says 2 of 4 men charged in Moscow attack admit guilt as suspects show signs of beating -Blueprint Wealth Network
Court says 2 of 4 men charged in Moscow attack admit guilt as suspects show signs of beating
View
Date:2025-04-16 08:46:37
Four men accused of staging the Russia concert hall attack that killed more than 130 people appeared before a Moscow court Sunday showing signs of severe beatings as they faced formal terrorism charges. One appeared to be barely conscious during the hearing.
A court statement said two of the suspects accepted their guilt in the assault after being charged in the preliminary hearing, though the men's condition raised questions about whether they were speaking freely. There had been earlier conflicting reports in Russian media outlets that said three or all four men admitted culpability.
Moscow's Basmanny District Court formally charged Dalerdzhon Mirzoyev, 32; Saidakrami Rachabalizoda, 30; Shamsidin Fariduni, 25; and Mukhammadsobir Faizov, 19, with committing a group terrorist attack resulting in the death of others. The offense carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.
The court ordered that the men, all of whom are citizens of Tajikistan, be held in pre-trial custody until May 22.
Russian media had reported that the men were tortured during interrogation by the security services, and Mirzoyev, Rachabalizoda and Fariduni showed signs of heavy bruising, including swollen faces,
Rachabalizoda also had a heavily bandaged ear. Russian media said Saturday that one of the suspects had his ear cut off during interrogation. The Associated Press couldn't verify the report or the videos purporting to show this.
The fourth suspect, Faizov, was brought to court from a hospital in a wheelchair and sat with his eyes closed throughout the proceedings. He was attended by medics while in court, where he wore a hospital gown and trousers and was seen with multiple cuts.
Court officials said Mirzoyev and Rachabalizoda admitted guilt for the attack after being charged.
The hearing came as Russia observed a national day of mourning for the attack Friday on the suburban Crocus City Hall concert venue that killed at least 137 people.
The attack, which has been claimed by an affiliate of the Islamic State group, is the deadliest on Russian soil in years.
Russian authorities arrested the four suspected attackers Saturday, with seven more people detained on suspicion of involvement in the attack, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an address to the nation Saturday night. He claimed they were captured while fleeing to Ukraine, something that Kyiv firmly denied.
Events at cultural institutions were canceled Sunday, flags were lowered to half staff and television entertainment and advertising were suspended, according to state news agency RIA Novosti. A steady stream of people added to a makeshift memorial near the burned-out concert hall, creating a huge mound of flowers.
"People came to a concert, some people came to relax with their families, and any one of us could have been in that situation. And I want to express my condolences to all the families that were affected here and I want to pay tribute to these people," Andrey Kondakov, one of the mourners who came to lay flowers at the memorial, told AP.
"It is a tragedy that has affected our entire country," kindergarten employee Marina Korshunova said. "It just doesn't even make sense that small children were affected by this event." Three children were among the dead.
Rescuers continued to search the damaged building and the death toll rose as more bodies were found as family and friends of some of those still missing waiting for news. Moscow's Department of Health said Sunday it had begun identifying the bodies of those killed via DNA testing, saying the process would take at least two weeks.
Igor Pogadaev was desperately seeking any details about his wife, Yana Pogadaeva, who went to the attack concert. The last he heard from her was when she sent him two photos from the Crocus City Hall music venue.
After Pogadaev saw the reports of gunmen opening fire on concertgoers, he rushed to the site, but couldn't find her in the numerous ambulances or among the hundreds of people who had made their way out of the venue.
"I went around, searched, I asked everyone, I showed photographs. No one saw anything, no one could say anything," Pogadaev told AP in a video message.
He watched flames bursting out of the building as he made frantic calls to a hotline for relatives of the victims, but received no information.
As the death toll mounted Saturday, Pogodaev scoured hospitals in the Russian capital and the Moscow region, looking for information on newly admitted patients.
His wife wasn't among the 182 reported injured, nor on the list of 60 victims authorities had already identified, he said.
The Moscow Region's Emergency Situations Ministry posted a video Sunday showing equipment dismantling the damaged music venue to give rescuers access.
Putin has called the attack "a bloody, barbaric terrorist act" and said Russian authorities captured the four suspects as they were trying to escape to Ukraine through a "window" prepared for them on the Ukrainian side of the border.
Russian media broadcast videos that apparently showed the detention and interrogation of the suspects, including one who told the cameras he was approached by an unidentified assistant to an Islamic preacher via a messaging app and paid to take part in the raid.
Putin didn't mention IS in his speech to the nation, and Kyiv accused him and other Russian politicians of falsely linking Ukraine to the assault to stoke fervor for Russia's fight in Ukraine, which recently entered its third year.
U.S. intelligence officials said they had confirmed the IS affiliate's claim.
"ISIS bears sole responsibility for this attack. There was no Ukrainian involvement whatsoever," National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson said in a statement.
The U.S. shared information with Russia in early March about a planned terrorist attack in Moscow, and issued a public warning to Americans in Russia, Watson said.
The raid was a major embarrassment for Putin and happened just days after he cemented his grip on the country for another six years in a vote that followed the harshest crackdown on dissent since the Soviet times.
Some commentators on Russian social media questioned how authorities, who have relentlessly suppressed any opposition activities and muzzled independent media, failed to prevent the attack despite the U.S. warnings.
IS, which fought against Russia during its intervention in the Syrian civil war, has long targeted Russia. In a statement posted by the group's Aamaq news agency, the IS Afghanistan affiliate said that it had attacked a large gathering of "Christians" in Krasnogorsk.
The group issued a new statement Saturday on Aamaq, saying the attack was carried out by four men who used automatic rifles, a pistol, knives and firebombs. It said the assailants fired at the crowd and used knives to kill some concertgoers, casting the raid as part of the Islamic State group's ongoing war with countries that it says are fighting against Islam.
In October 2015, a bomb planted by IS downed a Russian passenger plane over Sinai, killing all 224 people on board, most of them Russian vacationers returning from Egypt.
The group, which operates mainly in Syria and Iraq but also in Afghanistan and Africa, also has claimed responsibility for several attacks in Russia's volatile Caucasus and other regions in past years. It recruited fighters from Russia and other parts of the former Soviet Union.
- In:
- ISIS
- Russia
- Vladimir Putin
veryGood! (79634)
Related
- Hackers hit Rhode Island benefits system in major cyberattack. Personal data could be released soon
- Get a $68 Lululemon Tank for $29, $118 Pants for $49, $298 Puffer for $169, and More Can't-Miss Finds
- Natalee Holloway's Harrowing Final Moments Detailed in Joran van der Sloot's Murder Confession
- While visiting wartime Israel, New York governor learns of her father’s sudden death back home
- Gen. Mark Milley's security detail and security clearance revoked, Pentagon says
- Johnny Bananas Unpeels What Makes a Great Reality TV Villain—and Why He Loves Being One
- Man accused of bringing guns to Wisconsin Capitol now free on signature bond, can’t possess weapons
- After 2022 mistreatment, former Alabama RB Kerry Goode won't return to Neyland Stadium
- Civic engagement nonprofits say democracy needs support in between big elections. Do funders agree?
- New shark species discovered in Mammoth Cave National Park fossils, researchers say
Ranking
- Dick Vitale announces he is cancer free: 'Santa Claus came early'
- An alleged Darfur militia leader was merely ‘a pharmacist,’ defense lawyers tell a war crimes court
- Sylvester Stallone Mourns Death of Incredible Rocky Costar Burt Young
- Chicago-area man charged with hate crimes for threatening Muslim men
- Costco membership growth 'robust,' even amid fee increase: What to know about earnings release
- Perfect no more, Rangers suddenly face ALCS test: 'Nobody said it was gonna be easy'
- Magnitude 3.5 earthquake shakes near Reno, Nevada, the second quake in two days
- Kraft Mac & Cheese ice cream is back at Walmart next week along with six new flavors by Van Leeuwen
Recommendation
Krispy Kreme offers a free dozen Grinch green doughnuts: When to get the deal
'We couldn't save Rani': Endangered elephant dies at St. Louis Zoo after unknown heart changes
Biden's Jordan stop to meet with Arab leaders canceled
Trial begins for parents accused of starving Washington teen to death
Selena Gomez's "Weird Uncles" Steve Martin and Martin Short React to Her Engagement
French presidential couple attend funeral service of teacher slain in school attack
Intel bulletin says terror groups are calling on supporters to target U.S., Israeli interests amid Israel-Hamas conflict
US Navy warship in Red Sea intercepts three missiles heading north out of Yemen