Russia has arrested and charged four men it accused of the deadly attack in a Moscow concert hall that killed at least 137 people, state news agency TASS reported on Monday.
The four suspects, named by Russian authorities as Dalerdzhon Mirzoyev, Saidakrami Rachabalizodu, Shamsidin Fariduni and Muhammadsobir Fayzov were tried in Basmanny Court in Moscow.
The court hearing went on behind closed doors and Fayzov, who filmed the attack on the concert hall in Krasnogorsk, attended the hearing on a stretcher and had difficulty talking, the TASS report said.
All four are to be held in detention until at least May 22, the court said.
Earlier, a TASS correspondent reported from the courtroom said that one of the men charged with committing the terror attack is a Tajik national. CNN reported that all four are from the former Soviet republic of Tajikistan and have been in Russia on either temporary or expired visas.
According to the Russian Investigative Committee, a total of 137 people died in the March 22 terror attack at the Crocus City Hall music venue and the death toll is likely to go up further.
The Moscow Region Health Ministry reported 182 people injured.
A total of 11 people involved in the attack were apprehended, including four suspected attackers, who sought to flee towards the Ukrainian border, TASS reported.
During his televised address, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Ukraine prepared a “window” for the attackers to cross the border and vowed to identify and punish everyone behind the attack. He also declared March 24 a national mourning day.
Putin had said, “We will investigate this terrorist attack and we already have some results. All the four perpetrators, who were directly involved who were gunning people down, killing people.
They were found and apprehended. They tried to escape. They were moving towards the border with Ukraine and we have data that suggests that they were about to be moved towards the territory of Ukraine by those in Ukraine.”
The concert venue, with an estimated capacity of 7,500, was almost full when the terrorists struck and the assault took place ahead of a performance by the Russian rock band Picnic, RT news agency reported earlier.
According to the mobile phone footage and eyewitness accounts, at least five gunmen wearing military-style gear and carrying assault rifles first opened fire at unarmed security guards at the main entrance to the venue.
They then proceeded to shoot indiscriminately at the fleeing crowd of panicked visitors. Once the terrorists reached the concert hall, they appeared to set fire to rows of chairs inside, with the blaze quickly engulfing much of the building, including its roof.
The ISIS has claimed responsibility for the attack at the concert venue complex near Moscow on Friday night.
According to a CNN report, the US warned Moscow that ISIS militants were determined to target Russia in the days before assailants stormed the Crocus City Hall in an attack that killed scores of people, but President Vladimir Putin rejected the advice as “provocative.”
US National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said the US government had “shared this information with Russian authorities in accordance with its longstanding ‘duty to warn’ policy.” (ANI)
