Trial begins for suspects in 2024 Moscow concert hall attack that killed
149 people
[August 05, 2025]
MOSCOW (AP) — A trial began Monday under tight security for 19
defendants accused of involvement in last year’s shooting rampage in a
Moscow concert hall that killed 149 people and wounded over 600 in one
of the deadliest attacks in the capital in years.
A faction of the Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the
March 22, 2024, massacre at the Crocus City Hall concert venue in which
four gunmen shot people who were waiting for a show by a popular rock
band and then set the building on fire.
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Suspects accused of involvement in a terror attack in the Crocus City
Hall on March 22, 2024, sit in a glass cage prior to a hearing in the
2nd Western District Military Court in Moscow, Russia, Monday, Aug. 4,
2025. (AP Photo/Pavel Bednyakov) |
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President Vladimir Putin and other Russian officials have
claimed, without presenting evidence, that Ukraine had a role in
the attack. Kyiv has strongly denied any involvement.
The Investigative Committee, Russia's top criminal investigation
agency, said in June that it concluded that the attack had been
“planned and carried out in the interests of the current
leadership of Ukraine in order to destabilize political
situation in our country.” It also noted the four suspected
gunmen tried to flee to Ukraine afterward.
The four, all identified as citizens of Tajikistan, were
arrested hours after the attack and later appeared in a Moscow
court with signs of being severely beaten.
The defendants appearing in court on Monday kept their heads
bowed as they sat in the defendants' cage.
The committee said earlier this year that six other suspects
were charged in absentia and placed on Russia’s wanted list for
allegedly recruiting and organizing the training of the four.
Other defendants in the trial were accused of helping them.
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