Four suspects in the attack in Moscow remain in pre-trial detention center

Four alleged perpetrators of the attack on a Moscow concert hall that killed at least 137 people remain in preventive detention this Wednesday after appearing in court on Sunday in the capital.

The court appearance came on the evening of a day of mourning in Russia following Friday’s massacre, the deadliest attack on European soil claimed by the jihadist group Islamic State (IS), which left 182 people injured, 101 of them still detained in the hospital.

According to Moscow’s Basmanny Court, the four arrested and charged with “terrorism” could be sentenced to life imprisonment. The detention, scheduled until May 22, may be extended until the trial, the date of which has not yet been set.

In total, Russian authorities reported the arrest of eleven people, including four attackers, in connection with the attack.

On Sunday, investigators continued to sift through the rubble of the building, which was destroyed in a massive fire set by the attackers.

Vladimir Putin, who spoke one Saturday nearly 24 hours after the events, made no new statements but lit a candle in the chapel of his residence outside Moscow, his spokesman said, quoted by Russian state news agencies.

Police also found about 500 bullets, two Kalashnikovs and 28 magazines at the scene of the tragedy, saying they belonged to the “attackers.”

The court broadcast footage of police bringing three suspects into the courtroom, handcuffed and folded in half, and then sitting in a glass cage reserved for the accused. The fourth suspect arrived in a wheelchair with his eyes closed.

One of the suspects had a white bandage over his ear, consistent with previous arrest videos of the alleged attackers released by investigators on Saturday, in which three of them appeared with blood on their faces.

According to the court, two defendants pleaded guilty. One of them, a native of Tajikistan, “fully admitted his guilt.”

Authorities had previously indicated that the suspects were “foreign nationals,” without mentioning their nationality. Tajikistan is a former Soviet republic in Central Asia with a Muslim majority.

The Investigative Committee, like Putin, has not yet mentioned the statement made on Friday by the Islamic State group.

He also said nothing on Sunday about Ukraine, although Vladimir Putin and his intelligence services (FSB) put forward this hypothesis because, in their opinion, the alleged killers were trying to infiltrate Ukrainian territory.

It was the deadliest attack in Russia in nearly 20 years and the deadliest attack claimed by IS in Europe. The jihadist group that Russia is fighting in Syria and operating in the Russian Caucasus has previously carried out smaller attacks in the country since the late 2010s.

Adrienne Watson, spokeswoman for the White House National Security Council, said Sunday that ISIS bears “sole responsibility for this attack. There was no participation of Ukraine in it.”

British Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt also questioned Putin’s account, saying he has “very little confidence” in what the Russian authorities are saying.

On Sunday, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba said that the Russian president “is a pathological liar.”

“Now he is trying to link Ukraine or Western countries with the massacre in Moscow without any evidence. […] Their goal is to motivate Russians to die in a senseless and criminal war against Ukraine,” he added.

A few days before the attack, Putin classified US warnings that a terrorist attack was being prepared in Russia as a “provocation.”

According to the group “Site”, which specializes in anti-terrorism investigations, the video, allegedly filmed by the attackers, was published on social networks commonly used by ISIS.

The video shows several people with blurred faces, armed with machine guns and knives, in a room similar to the Crocus City Hall concert hall, where several volleys were heard, many inert bodies can be seen on the floor and the start of a fire. .