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The suspects, who are from the Central Asian republic of Tajikistan but were working in Russia on temporary or expired visas, were named by the Moscow City Court as Dalerdzhan Mirzoyev, Saidkarmi Rachblizoda, Shamsidin Fariduni and Mukhamadsobir Faizov. He faces a maximum sentence of life in prison.
The accused has confessed to the crime
They are accused of attacking the Crocus City Hall in a Moscow suburb on Friday, shooting civilians before setting the building on fire, causing the roof to collapse while concertgoers were still inside.
ISIS has claimed responsibility for the massacre and released graphic footage showing the incident, but Moscow has indicated without evidence that the perpetrators planned to flee to Ukraine. Kiev has denied involvement and called the Kremlin's claims “absurd.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin, meeting with other government officials on Monday, said the attack was carried out by “radical Islamists.”
“We know that this crime was committed by radical Islamists, whose ideology the Islamic world has been fighting for centuries,” Putin said.
The accused were presented in the court
Mirzoev, the first suspect to be charged, had a black eye, bruises on his face and a plastic bag wrapped around his neck.
Russian state media RIA Novosti reported that Mirzoyev, 32, had a temporary resident permit in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk for three months, but it had expired.
Registration documents but can't remember where they are. During this time, he appeared in the court with a bandage on his swollen eye and ear.
The third defendant, Fariduni, who was born in 1998, was employed at a factory in the industrial city of Podolsk and was registered in Krasnogorsk, near Moscow.
Russian media reported that all three men had pleaded guilty to terrorism charges. It is unclear what promises Faizov, the fourth person born in 2004, made. He can be seen limping in a wheelchair inside a glass cage.
According to Russian social media, when he was brought to court, other people beat him and he appeared to be injured. Videos and still images show some of them being interrogated violently, including the apparent use of electric shock.
A video shows Rachablizoda lying on the ground with part of his ear cut off.
All four accused were sent to custody
Margarita Simonyan, editor-in-chief of the Russian state propaganda network RT, posted a video of Rachablizoda appearing in court with a heavily bandaged ear, which she wrote made her feel nothing but joy.
CNN asked the Kremlin about “visible signs of violence” against the suspects, but spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to comment.
The court said that all four have been sent to pre-trial custody till May 2022.
Later on Monday, Russia's Investigative Committee asked the court to detain three other people – two brothers and their father – in connection with the attack, Russian state media TASS reported.
On Monday, three days after the attack, rescue workers were still wading through the ruins of the collapsed concert hall and trying to remove debris. Russia's Ministry of Emergency Situations said more than 300 “specialists” were working at the site.
The attack, the deadliest on Russian soil in nearly two decades, was met with anger and disbelief in Russia, leading to calls for harsher punishment.
While the roof of the concert hall was still burning, ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack and shared a video taken by people who attacked the building, where thousands of people had gathered to watch the Russian rock group Picnic.
CNN geolocated the 90-second video into the concert hall, where bodies and blood can be seen on the floor and a fire burning above. The video also shows one of the attackers slitting the throat of a man lying on his back and finally all four attackers enter the building and send smoke flying into the distance.
Despite ISIS providing evidence that its fighters carried out the attack, Putin and other senior officials are keen to link Ukraine to the terrorist attack.
