Russia jails 15 men for life over concert hall terror attack

Fifteen men received life sentences for the Crocus City Hall attack that killed 150, including children, and wounded hundreds inside a burning building. It was Russia’s deadliest such incident in two decades.

A Moscow court on Thursday sentenced 15 men to life in prison over the 2024 Crocus City Hall massacre that killed 150 people, the deadliest terror attack in the country in more than two decades. The incident, which targeted a sold-out concert venue, was later claimed by the "Islamic State."

Among those given life sentences were the four gunmen — all Tajik citizens — who carried out the assault, opened fire on the crowd and then set the building on fire.

Eleven others, including some Russian citizens, were also sentenced to life as accomplices with terrorist links.

Those tried alongside them included three men who sold the gunmen a car, a landlord who rented them an apartment and 10 others accused of terrorist ties, according to the independent Russian news site Mediazona.

Four additional defendants — including a father and his sons — received prison terms of between 19 and 22 years.

Russia's deadliest attack in two decades

The March 2024 attack on the Moscow concert hall was the country's worst since the 2004 siege of a school in Beslan.

The gunmen entered the concert hall shortly before a performance by the Soviet-era rock band Picnic. They opened fire on concertgoers and then set the building ablaze, trapping many inside.

More than 600 people were wounded. Six of those killed were children.

The attack took place two years into Russia's invasion in Ukraine. President Vladimir Putin and other Russian officials have claimed, without presenting evidence, that Ukraine had a role in the attack. Kyiv has denied any involvement.

'Like yesterday,' said survivor

The verdict came ahead of the second anniversary of the incident.

"For us all it's like yesterday," Ivan Pomorin, who was filming at the concert hall that night, told AFP in court.

The four gunmen, who were aged between 20 to 31 during the attack, had worked in various professions, including as a taxi driver, factory employee and construction worker.

They stood in a glass defendant's cage, surrounded by security guards.

Hours after the attack, the suspects were brought to court showing signs of torture. One of them was barely conscious in a wheelchair. Videos circulating on social media and linked to security services appeared to show bloody interrogations.

The Russian state news agency TASS reported this month that two of the men sentenced to life had asked the court to send them to fight in Ukraine instead of serving life in prison.

One of them said he hoped to "redeem his guilt with blood," according to a lawyer quoted by TASS.

Since invading Ukraine, Russia has recruited prisoners for the war, offering them freedom if they survive combat.

Attack prompts anti-migrant rhetoric

Prosecutors also sought to strip relatives of one of the gunmen of their Russian citizenship.

Russia, already undergoing a conservative social shift during the war, has tightened anti-migrant laws and rhetoric since the attack.

The measures have strained relations with some of Moscow's allies in Central Asia, whose governments have urged Russia to respect the rights of their citizens.

For years, Russia's economy has depended on millions of migrant workers from Central Asia. But their numbers fell after the invasion of Ukraine, and the post-Crocus crackdown has discouraged some from coming.

Edited by: Elizabeth Schumacher