On the occasion of the completion of the investigation into the criminal case of the terrorist attack on the Crocus City Hall concert hall near Moscow, the Russian Investigative Committee has said that the attack, which took place in March 2024, was “planned and committed in favour of the current leadership of Ukraine”. A spokeswoman for the agency, Svetlana Petrenko, said.
The case against 19 defendants has been sent to the prosecutor for submission to the court. At the same time, the investigation against two organisers and four alleged accomplices of the attack is continuing. We are talking about the persons who have been arrested in absentia and declared wanted, their names are not disclosed.
The investigation has been completed, in particular with regard to four people whom the investigation calls the direct perpetrators of the attack. They are Tajik citizens Dalerjon Mirzoev, Muhammadsoobir Faizov, Shamsidin Fariduni and Saidakrami Rachabalizoda. They had been detained for more than a year, as had 15 of their alleged accomplices.
On what basis the investigators came to the conclusion that the terrorist attack was committed in favour of the Ukrainian leadership, the report does not say. Earlier, representatives of the Investigative Committee and the Russian authorities claimed that there was a Ukrainian trace in the attack on Crocus, citing as evidence the fact that the accused were detained near the HIV border with Ukraine.
It was also claimed that the perpetrators of the attack and their accomplices were members of the Wilayat Khorasan terrorist group recognised in Russia – the Afghan wing of the Islamic State organisation, recognised as a terrorist in many countries. It itself claimed involvement in the attack and did not mention Ukraine in any way. Kiev denies any involvement in the attack on Crocus.
The terrorist attack killed 149 people, one is still missing, 609 people were injured and traumatised. On 22 March 2024, in Krasnogorsk near Moscow, before the start of a concert by the band Picnic, several people burst into the Crocus City Hall, opened fire on people and then set the hall on fire.