Four suspects are in custody after the terrorist attack in Moscow. They appear in court seriously injured. Observers suspect that the power apparatus wants to demonstrate strength through torture.
Several days after the terrorist attack near Moscow with more than 130 deaths, the focus in Russia is primarily on four suspects who have now been imprisoned. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov initially declined to comment on the men’s serious injuries, which indicate torture by Russian security forces. Instead, he announced that President Vladimir Putin would meet with representatives of various state structures that evening to discuss further measures in response to the attack.
Clean-up work continued on site at the destroyed Crocus City Hall; It cannot be ruled out that more bodies will be found in the rubble of the burned-out concert hall.
Suspect seriously injured in courtroom
When the alleged perpetrators were brought to Moscow’s Basmanny Court by police and secret service agents, their serious injuries were immediately apparent. Several of the men who were said to have shot at the Crocus City Hall concert venue last Friday had severely swollen faces, lacerations and bruises. One had a large bandage on his ear. Another was no longer able to walk on his own and reportedly temporarily lost consciousness. He was wheeled on a stretcher to the courtroom where the arrest warrants were issued. Videos had previously appeared on social networks showing that the suspected attackers were tortured and that one of them even had his ear cut off.
Kremlin spokesman Peskov simply said to a journalist who pointed out the injuries visible in the courtroom and the torture videos: “I’m leaving this question unanswered.”
Leonid Volkov, a confidant of Kremlin opponent Alexei Navalny, who recently died in a prison camp, was convinced that the recordings had reached the public on instructions from the very top. The fact that the power apparatus is so demonstratively displaying its own cruelty is new, Volkov wrote in the Telegram news service. He was convinced that this was intended to distract attention from the “failure of the Russian secret services” before the attack.
Other observers were also convinced that the men had been tortured. “The answer to barbarism must not be barbarism,” said the Russian association “Komanda protiw pytok” (German: Team Against Torture). Violence and harassment also had an extremely negative impact on the investigation, the activists emphasized: “We have always said and will always say that the value of evidence that security forces obtain through torture is critically low. Instead of the truth, a person usually tells the thing that can stop or at least interrupt this torture.” Forced confessions could lead the investigation in a completely wrong direction.
Putin wants to discuss further measures
Meanwhile, Putin wants to discuss further measures with representatives from security structures and other areas of the state this Monday. According to the Interfax agency, Peskov said a corresponding meeting would be scheduled for the evening. The question should also be about what services can be used to support victims and their relatives.
Peskov did not comment on the background to the attack on Crocus City Hall. The terrorist militia Islamic State has already claimed responsibility for the attack several times. Western security authorities and experts believe the confession is credible and suspect the IS offshoot Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISPK) was behind the attack. Meanwhile, Russian propaganda is trying to establish an alleged connection with Ukraine, against which Putin has been waging a brutal war of aggression for more than two years. However, there is no evidence for this claim. The Ukrainian leadership has also strictly rejected the allegations.
Almost 100 injured people still in hospitals
97 injured people are still being treated in hospitals, the head of the Moscow Region Health Administration, Lyudmila Bolatayeva, said. The patients are spread across clinics in the capital and the Moscow region, and their injuries vary in severity. According to the authorities’ last count, 137 people were killed and more than 180 injured in the attack. Mourners continued to lay flowers at an improvised memorial on the fence of the Crocus City site.
Highest terror alert level in France after attack in Moscow
After the attack in Moscow, France declared the highest terror alert level. President Emmanuel Macron said that the same branch of the Islamic State terrorist militia that struck in Moscow had also recently attempted attacks in France. Without naming the subgroup, Macron said on Monday that the Islamic State had claimed responsibility for the attack in Moscow “and the information that we have, that our intelligence services have, as well as our key partners, in fact suggests that “A unit of the Islamic State instigated and carried out this attack.” The Olympic Games begin in Paris at the end of July. France, which has suffered numerous terrorist attacks, is likely to exercise particular caution in view of the major event.
Unchanged German security assessment
For Germany, however, according to the assessment of the security authorities, there is no change in the assessment of the Islamist threat. This was said by a spokesman for the Federal Ministry of the Interior in Berlin. “This was already high before, as shown by the measures taken by the security authorities against terrorist suspects from the ISPK.”
Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) assumes that the Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISPK) group, known as an offshoot of the Islamic State (IS), is responsible for the attack, as she told the “Süddeutsche Zeitung”. The ISPK terrorist group has its origins in Afghanistan. Khorasan represents a historical region in Central Asia that included parts of Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan as well as Iran.