“When we talk about terrorism, the murder of people, we must reinstate the death penalty within the framework of criminal law,” Duma deputy Yuri Afonin, who specializes in security issues, protested on Telegram. Numerous calls to reinstate the death penalty – suspended by a moratorium since 1996 – have been launched by Russian officials since the deadly attack on Crocus City Hall in the suburbs of Moscow on Friday evening, which cost the death of 137 people.
The attack, claimed by the Khorasan Islamic State terrorist group in the hours following the attack, led to an instant manhunt by Russian authorities for the culprits. The day after the attack, the police claimed to have arrested eleven people, including the four alleged attackers, who according to several sources were all nationals of Tajikistan. The latter were taken before the Basmanny court in Moscow on the evening of March 24, and charged one after the other with acts of terrorism. Placed in pre-trial detention until May 22, they face life imprisonment.
The day after the attack, several videos were broadcast during the day on Telegram channels, highlighting the torture to which the arrested suspects appear to have been subjected. An extract, the authenticity of which could not be proven, notably reveals a man pushed to the ground by a person in camouflage clothing, his ear mutilated and bloody. A photograph released on Sunday shows another man tied up, with an electric generator connected to his genitals.
At the same time, the public channel Pervy Kanal broadcasts interrogation images which are looped on social networks. We see several men supervised by armed members of the police. The video was supposedly filmed at the location of their arrest, in the Bryansk region. Three of them have blood on their faces. In the videos, two of the suspects admit their guilt. One declares having acted “for money” – 500,000 rubles promised by a stranger on social networks (around 5,000 euros).
On the evening of March 24, four men, with swollen and bloody faces, appeared in front of the cameras at the Basmanny court. Dalerjon Mirzoev, presented as the leader of the attackers by the Russian press, is a 32-year-old former taxi driver. During the hearing, his face was swollen and a torn plastic bag was around his neck. Not speaking Russian, he asked for the help of an interpreter, reports the Tass agency. He “fully admitted his guilt”, adds Tass.
At his side, Saidakrami Rachabalizoda, unemployed and married, who showed a thick bandage on his right ear during the hearing. The Russian press presents him as speaking Tajik, but understanding Russian. Fariduni Shamsidin, 25, answered questions in random Russian during his hearing. He appears to be the one who admitted to participating in the attack in exchange for 500,000 rubles in videos published by the public channel Pervy Kanal. The fourth suspect, Muhammadsobir Faysov, 19, appeared unconscious, dressed in a hospital gown in a wheelchair, with his face cut. This former hairdresser at a salon in Ivanovo, a town northeast of Moscow, kept his eyes closed throughout the hearing. The Tass news agency specifies that he was the one who filmed the attack at Crocus City Hall.
Dmitri Peskov, Kremlin spokesman, refused to respond to allegations of torture that emerged following the publication of the suspects’ videos. “I will leave this question unanswered,” he evaded when speaking to journalists. The Investigative Committee, a powerful investigative body, however, refused to mention the claim made on Friday by the Islamic State jihadist group. Russian President Vladimir Putin, for his part, favored the possibility of Ukrainian responsibility in the attack.