By
The Associated Press
Four men accused of carrying out the attack on a Moscow concert hall in which more than 130 people were killed appeared in a court in the Russian capital on Sunday with evidence of having been beaten.
One of them barely appeared conscious during the hearing, in which they faced formal terrorism charges.
A court statement said two of the suspects admitted guilt in the attack after being charged at a preliminary hearing, although the condition of the men raised questions about whether they were speaking freely.
Reports had previously emerged in the Russian press that three or all four suspects had admitted responsibility.
The Basmanny District Court of Moscow indicted Dalerdzhon Mirzoyev, 32;
Saidakrami Rachabalizoda, 30;
Shamsidin Fariduni, 25, and Mukhammadsobir Faizov, 19, of committing a group terrorist attack that led to the death of other people.
The crime carries a maximum sentence of life in prison.
A suspect in the Crocus City Hall attack last Friday sits in court at the Basmanny District Court, Sunday, March 24, 2024, in Moscow.
Alexander Zemlianichenko / AP
The court ordered that the men, all Tajik nationals, be detained until May 22.
Russian media had reported that the individuals were tortured while being interrogated by security services, and that Mirzoyev, Rachabalizoda and Fariduni showed signs of having been beaten, including facial swelling.
Rachabalizoda had one ear heavily bandaged.
Russian media reported Saturday that one of the suspects had had his ear cut off during interrogation.
The Associated Press could not verify the report or the videos that purportedly showed that.
The fourth suspect, Faizov, was brought to court from the hospital in a wheelchair and
remained seated with his eyes closed
throughout the hearing.
He received medical attention while in the ward, where he appeared in a hospital gown and pants.
Several cuts could be seen.
Court officials noted that MIrzoyev and Rachabalizoda acknowledged responsibility for the attack after being charged.
The hearing took place as Russia observed a day of national mourning following Friday's attack on the Crocus City Hall concert hall in suburban Moscow, which killed at least 137 people.
The attack, claimed by an affiliate of the Islamic State group,
is the deadliest on Russian soil in years.
Russian authorities arrested the four suspected attackers on Saturday, and seven more people were detained on suspicion of involvement in the attack, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an address to the nation on Saturday night.
He indicated that they were captured while fleeing to Ukraine, something that the Government of that country flatly denied.
[“I saw how the terrorists came in”: Witnesses describe chaos and terror during the attack in Moscow]
Events at cultural institutions were canceled Sunday, flags flew at half-mast and entertainment and advertising programming on television was suspended, state news agency RIA Novosti reported.
A steady stream of people added items to a makeshift altar 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 of us could have been in that situation.
“I want to express my condolences to all the families who were affected in this place, and I want to pay tribute to these people,” Andrei Kondakov, one of the mourners who came to place flowers at the altar, told the AP.
“It is a tragedy that has affected our entire country,” said Marina Korshunova, a kindergarten employee.
“It makes no sense that young children were affected by this event.”
Among the dead are three children.
Rescuers continued to inspect the damaged facility and the death toll rose after more bodies were located, while relatives and friends of some of the missing continued to wait for news.
Moscow's Health Department said Sunday that it has begun identifying the victims' bodies through DNA analysis, adding that the process will take at least two weeks.
Igor Pogodaev was desperately searching for any details about his wife, Yana Pogodaeva, who attended the concert.
The last he heard from her was that he sent her two photos from inside the room.
After Pogodaev saw reports that there were gunmen shooting at the public, he rushed to the scene, but could not find her in the enormous number of ambulances or among the hundreds of people who had managed to leave the premises.
“I went there, I searched, I asked everyone, I showed photographs.
"No one saw anything, no one could say anything
," Pogadev said in a video message sent to The Associated Press.
He watched flames emerge from the building as he desperately called a helpline for victims' families, but received no information.
[Putin threatens the West with a nuclear war if it sends troops to fight in Ukraine]
As the death toll rose on Saturday, Pogodaev toured hospitals in the Russian capital and the Moscow region seeking information on newly admitted patients.
His wife was not among the 182 people reported injured or on the list of 60 victims that authorities had already identified, he said.
The Ministry of Emergency Situations of the Moscow Region published a video on Sunday showing how the site was dismantled to give access to rescuers.
Putin has referred to the attack as “a bloody and barbaric terrorist act,” and noted that Russian authorities captured the four suspects when they were trying to escape to Ukraine through a “window” that had been prepared for them on the Ukrainian side of the border. border.
Russian media aired videos apparently showing the detention and interrogation of suspects, including one who told cameras that an unidentified assistant to an Islamic preacher contacted him through a messaging app and paid him to to participate in the attack.
Putin made no mention of the Islamic State group during his address to the nation, and Ukraine accused him and other Russian politicians of falsely linking that country to the attack to stoke fervor over the three-year war between the two nations. years last month.
US intelligence officials said they had confirmed responsibility for the Islamic State.
“
IS is solely responsible for this attack
.
There was no Ukrainian involvement of any kind,” National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson said in a statement.
[After being re-elected, Vladimir Putin will command Russia for the fifth time in history]
The United States shared information with Russia a few weeks ago about plans to carry out a terrorist attack in Moscow, and issued a public warning to all Americans on Russian territory, Watson added.
The attack is a huge humiliation for Putin and came just days after he entrenched his power in the country for another six years in a vote held after the biggest crackdown on dissent since Soviet times.
On Russian social media, some people questioned how authorities, who have relentlessly repressed any opposition activity and censored the independent press,
could not prevent the attack despite warnings from the United States.
The Islamic State group, which fought against Russia during its intervention in the Syrian civil war, had long had that country in its sights.
In a statement carried on the group's Aamaq news agency, the IS affiliate in Afghanistan reported that it had attacked a large congregation of “Christians” in Krasnogorsk.
The group published a new statement on Sunday in Aamaq, stating that the attack was carried out by four men who used automatic rifles, a pistol, knives and incendiary bombs.
He indicated that the attackers shot into the crowd and used knives to kill some of those present, referring to the attack as part of the war that the Islamic State group is currently waging against some countries that it accuses of fighting Islam.
In October 2015, a bomb planted by IS caused a passenger plane to crash over the Sinai, killing all
224 people on board
, mostly Russian tourists returning from Egypt.
The group, whose operations are focused in Syria and Iraq, but also in Afghanistan and Africa, has claimed responsibility for several attacks in Russia's volatile Caucasus region and other areas of the country in recent years.
It has recruited fighters from Russia and other parts of the former Soviet Union.