New crackdown in the wake of the attack on a Moscow concert hall.
An eighth suspect in the investigation into the attack in the Moscow suburbs on Friday evening was remanded in custody on Tuesday by a court in the Russian capital, its press service announced on Telegram.
The alleged attackers were arrested on Saturday.
“A Moscow court has placed under arrest another participant in the terrorist attack at Crocus City Hall”, a concert hall where at least 139 people died on Friday, the judicial authorities announced without detailing what the accused is accused of. this individual.
According to them, he is a national of Kyrgyzstan, a Central Asian country neighboring Tajikistan, where the four alleged attackers came from, according to Russian state media, which the Tajik authorities deny.
According to the Interfax agency, this eighth suspect is 31 years old and has Russian nationality.
During the hearing, he claimed that he did not know the defendants accused of planning the attack and was not aware of their plans, according to the agency.
The suspect allegedly assured that he “needed a tenant” because he was renting an apartment.
The four alleged attackers already brought to justice
Three other suspects had already been placed in pre-trial detention by a court in the capital on Monday, according to Russian agencies.
According to the Ria Novosti news agency, it concerns a father and two of his sons, one of whom, born in Tajikistan, holds Russian nationality.
As for the four alleged attackers, they were also placed in pre-trial detention on Sunday after their appearance in a Moscow court as well.
Accused of “terrorism”, they face life imprisonment, according to the state agency Ria Novosti.
Their detention, set until May 22, may be extended pending their trial, the date of which has not yet been set.
During their hearing, one of them had a white bandage on his ear while another arrived in a wheelchair, suggesting that they had been tortured since their arrest.
VIDEO.
Moscow attack: the four alleged attackers placed in pre-trial detention for “terrorism”
In total, Russian authorities reported the arrest of 11 people, including four attackers, in connection with this attack.
Russian President Vladimir Putin acknowledged on Monday for the first time that the attack, claimed by the jihadist group Islamic State (IS), had been committed by "radical Islamists", while continuing to imply a link with the Ukraine.
The Russian security services (FSB) also said on Tuesday that a national belonging to a pro-Ukraine group was killed in the explosion of his bomb at the time of his arrest in the Samara region (Volga), while according to them he was planning an attack.
Read alsoMoscow attack: in the Russian capital, Vladimir Putin launched the hunt for migrants
Furthermore, a Turkish security source told AFP that two of the suspects arrested for their participation in the attack traveled freely between Russia and Turkey, which they left together by plane on March 2 to return to Russia , “in the absence of an arrest warrant against them”.
They are both of Tajik nationality, according to this source.