Moscow court detains four over Crocus City Hall terror attack
On Sunday evening, a Moscow court charged and arrested four suspects for a terrorist act at Crocus City Hall near Moscow. All four are Tajiks. The hearings were not public. Moscow sent one image to the world: beaten and battered men. One of them was brought to the courtroom in a wheelchair.
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The district court in Moscow ruled that the four suspects in the attack on the concert hall in Krasnogorsk will be detained for two months, pending trial – according to a statement from the court published late Sunday evening on Telegram.
Accused of terrorism. They face life imprisonment
As reported by the AFP agency, in the statement, the court stated that the four men are accused of "terrorism," and they face life imprisonment. Their temporary custody, set until 22 May, may be extended until the trial, the date of which has not yet been set.
The world saw photos of maltreated men, whom Moscow blames for the attack. Three out of the four suspects confessed to the charges.
The first accused in the case of a terrorist attack, 30-year-old Dalerdzhon Mirzoyev, appeared in court with bruises on his face. "After asking him the first questions, the investigator asked the judge to close the trial to the press. The court agreed," - writes the website Mediazona.
The investigator stated that a public hearing "may lead to the disclosure of investigative secrets", and also "threaten the safety of the process participants and their relatives".
Mediazona reports that he has a wife and four children.
Sergiei Sumienny, an expert on Eastern Europe, wrote: "After 48 hours of Russian interrogation, this person has visible bruises on his face (!) and a plastic torture bag on his neck (!!!). Guess what his body looks like under the clothes. Now Russians say he is an ISIS terrorist and he confessed. Aha".
His ear was cut off and pushed into his mouth
The second accused, 32-year-old Saidakrami Murodali Rachabalizoda, was brought into the courtroom with his head bandaged. The day before, Russian social media shared a video that supposedly shows the initial interrogation of the detained participant of attacks on Crocus City Hall. During the interrogation, the man had his ear cut off and pushed into his mouth.
The court also agreed to keep the trial secret. Saidakrami Murodali Rachabalizoda said he has a wife and a child, and also that he is registered in Russia, but "doesn't remember where".
Brought in with a catheter and in a wheelchair
The third detainee, 25-year-old Shamsidin Fariduni, worked as a laborer in Krasnogorsk. He was likely also tortured. In the photo shared on social media, Fariduni lies on the floor with his trousers pulled down to his knees. His hands are tied behind his back. Two cables run from his genitalia to a car battery.
Jaroslaw Wolski, a political scientist, journalist, and military analyst, wrote on the X platform that "Russia and human rights are disjoint sets". "Yes, you see correctly - one of the ISIS-K attackers already has a battery on his testicles as part of the standard Russian preliminary interrogation and the photo made it to the network" - he wrote.
The expert pointed out that Russians intentionally publish such photos. "But think about what Ukrainian prisoners go through. RUS operates the same way as the OGPU (Unified State Political Directorate), NKVD (People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs of the USSR) NKGB (People's Commissariat for State Security of the USSR), SMERSH (Special Methods of Detection of Spies) GESTAPO (Secret State Police Office of the Third Reich), etc. On the other hand: in less than two years, RUS completely eliminated the guerrilla movement in the occupied areas of Ukraine".
"Probably missing an eye"
The fourth detainee, 19-year-old Muhammadsobir Fayzov. According to Reuters, he was brought to the court in a wheelchair and "probably missing an eye".
The database describes that the man had a catheter attached. "He is single and has no children," - writes Baza. It is added that the eye might have fallen out during a brutal interrogation.
"Financial Times" correspondent Polina Ivanova, who witnessed this bringing in, wrote: "Crazy picture". The journalist noted that brutal interrogations of the suspects had already appeared in the media the day before.
"This evening one of the four was brought to a Moscow courtroom in a wheelchair," she added. The man - according to the Russian media - had problems speaking.
"Putin's bloody coronation"
Ukrainian journalist and editor-in-chief of the Censor.NET portal Yuri Butsov, commenting on the photos, wrote that it was "Putin's bloody coronation".
"Instead of talking about Nawalny's murder, about human rights violations in staged elections, instead of talking about terrorist bombings of Ukraine and mass murders of civilians in Ukraine, Putin created a reason to personally extract condolences from the entire world. The informational bomb of the terrorist attack has covered up the crimes and massacres that Putin commits daily" - we read.
Attack on Crocus City Hall
On Friday, terrorists attacked the concert hall Crocus City Hall in the suburbs of Krasnogorsk. Gunfire was opened on the spectators, explosive devices detonated. A fire broke out, causing the roof of the building to collapse. At least 137 people were killed, and over 180 were injured.
The responsibility for the attack was claimed by the Khorasan Province of the Islamic State, the Afghan wing of IS.
source: PAP / BBC / Mediazona / Baza
