Graphic footage shows suspect in Moscow concert attack ‘being force-fed own ear’
Footage that appears to show the torture of suspects in the Moscow concert hall attack during which more than 130 people were killed are circulating in Russia, although the Kremlin is refusing to answer questions about the videos. A total of 97 people remain in hospital, officials said.
One of the films appears to show security forces cutting off the ear of one of the suspects and trying to feed it to him, while another shows a man apparently being subject to electric shocks to his groin. A third shows security forces beating a man with their rifle butts and kicking him as he lies in the snow. Isis has claimed the attack and itself released graphic video of the attackers firing on the crowd inside the concert hall.
Four men appeared in court over the weekend and were charged in relation to the attack. They appeared to have been beaten, with one of the suspects having heavy bandaging on his right ear. One also had to be brought into the courtroom in a wheelchair.
The four suspects were named by Russian authorities as Dalerdzhon Mirzoyev, 32, Saidakrami Murodali Rachabalizoda, 30, Shamsidin Fariduni, 25, and Muhammadsobir Fayzov, 19.
The men the court identified during the court proceeding as Mr Mirzoyev and Mr Rachabalizoda both had black eyes. Mr Rachabalizoda appeared with the bandage on his right ear. The face of the man identified as Mr Fariduni was badly swollen.
Mr Fariduni said in an interrogation video published on social media that he had arrived from Turkey on 4 March. He was trembling while being questioned by the side of a road, with his hands tied behind his back. He said that he had “shot people” in Crocus City Hall “for money”, having been offered 500,000 roubles ($5,400) by a person he did not identify.
The man named as Mr Fayzov appeared to lose consciousness as he was brought into court in a wheelchair. Photographs circulating online on Sunday appeared to show Mr Fayzov with one of his eyes missing.
The men were officially identified by as citizens of Tajikistan, Russia’s Tass state news agency said. A court statement on the Telegram messaging service said Mr Mirzoyev had “admitted his guilt in full”, while Mr Rachabalizoda also “admitted guilt”. All four were remanded in pre-trial custody until May.
The men were caught about 14 hours after the attack in the southern Bryansk region, around 400km (250 miles) southwest of Moscow, when they fled a vehicle and tried to reach a nearby forest.
When asked about the videos showing alleged torture of the suspects, the Kremlin’s spokesperson, Dmitri Peskov, refused to comment.
Russian authorities say at least 137 people were killed in the Moscow attack and close to another 200 were injured. It constitutes the deadliest attack claimed by Isis in Europe – and the worst such attack in Russia for two decades.
On Monday, Emmanuel Macron said that the Isis branch behind the attack, known as Khorasan Province (Isis-K) had previously attempted attacks on France, as he agreed with the US assessment that Isis-K were behind the act of terror. Isis-K frequently criticises President Vladimir Putin in its propaganda.
“The information available to us … as well as to our main partners, indicates indeed that it was an entity of the Islamic State [Isis] which instigated this attack,” Mr Macron said during a visit to French Guiana, agreeing with the US intelligence assessment that it was a regional branch of Isis, known as Khorasan Province (Isis-K) behind the attack. “This specific group…had over the past months attempted attacks on our soil,” he said.
French prime minister Gabriel Attal later said these foiled attacks included a plot on the city of Strasbourg, in eastern France. “The claim of responsibility for the [Moscow] attack by a branch of Islamic State [Isis] that planned attacks in European countries including France prompted us to increase the Vigipirate [security threat assessment] to its highest level,” Mr Attal said, speaking from a Paris train station, referencing the rising of the terror threat level on Sunday night. “We will deploy exceptional means everywhere on [French] territory,” he added.
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