Russia has ordered four men accused of killing at least 137 people in a massacre at a Moscow concert hall to be held in custody on “terror” charges, with the death toll expected to climb as more than 100 people are hospitalised.
The men face life in prison, although Russian officials have clamoured for the lifting of a moratorium on the death penalty to deliver even harsher sentences.
In a series of late-night court hearings in Moscow that ran into the early hours of Monday, the four men — with bruises and cuts over their faces — were dragged into the court in front of dozens of reporters who had assembled at the capital’s Basmanny district court.
FSB security service officers wheeled one in to the hearing on a medical gurney, following reports and videos on Russian social media of bloody interrogations after the men were arrested on Saturday.
The Friday evening attack has been claimed by Islamic State, though Russian officials have not commented on their possible involvement.
In his only public remarks since, President Vladimir Putin pointed to a Ukrainian connection, saying the four suspects gunmen were arrested while trying to flee there.
Gunmen in camouflage stormed the Crocus City Hall concert venue on Friday night, shooting concert-goers before setting the building ablaze and fleeing the scene, Russian investigators say.
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More than 5,000 people were in the building, Russian state media cited a spokesperson from the venue owner as saying Monday.
It was the deadliest attack in Russia in two decades and the most fatal in Europe to have been claimed by IS.
The Moscow court ordered the men to be held in pre-trial detention until May 22 — a date that is likely to be extended until a full trial.
Russia said Saturday it had arrested 11 people in connection with the attack. There has been no information on the other seven.
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The four suspected shooters were all citizens of Tajikistan, Russian state media reported.
The president of Tajikistan — a Central Asian nation that borders Afghanistan and where IS is known to be active — told Putin in a phone call on Sunday: “Terrorists have no nationality.”
Moscow and Dushanbe agreed to “intensify” their counter-terrorism co-operation, the Kremlin said in a readout of the call.
The court said two of the defendants had pleaded guilty.
Putin has vowed to punish those behind the “barbaric terrorist attack”, and on Saturday said the four gunmen had been arrested while trying to flee to Ukraine.
Kyiv has strongly denied any connection to the attack, and the United States has said IS bears “sole responsibility”.
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