Russia on Thursday sentenced 15 men — including four gunmen — to life in prison over the Crocus concert hall attack that left 150 people dead, the deadliest assault in Russia in more than two decades.
Family members of some of the victims of the March 22, 2024, attack — claimed by the Islamic State group — attended the session at a Moscow military court as the verdicts were read.
The four gunmen, all Tajik nationals — Shamsidin Fariduni, Dalerdzhon Mirzoyev, Makhammadsobir Fayzov, and Saidakrami Rachabolizoda — carried out the shooting spree and set the venue on fire. They stood silently as the judge handed down life sentences.
An additional 11 men, including some Russian citizens, were also sentenced to life imprisonment for aiding the attackers and maintaining terrorist affiliations.
Four more men, including a father and his sons, received prison terms of 19 to 22 years for their involvement with the attackers.
The assault in the Moscow suburbs was Russia’s deadliest since the 2004 Beslan school siege.
The gunmen stormed the concert hall shortly before a performance by the Soviet-era rock band Picnic, later setting the building ablaze and trapping numerous victims inside. The attack left over 600 people injured and claimed the lives of six children.
The attack occurred two years into Moscow’s war in Ukraine, at a time when Russia — heavily engaged in the conflict — had dismissed US warnings of an imminent attack.
The Kremlin suggested a possible Ukrainian connection at the time but did not provide evidence.
Russia’s Investigative Committee said after the verdict that it had “reliably established” that the attack was “planned and committed in the interests of” Kyiv.
It also accused the suspects of plotting attacks in Dagestan.
The verdict came ahead of the second anniversary of the killings.
“For us all, it’s like yesterday,” Ivan Pomorin, who was filming the Crocus Hall concert at the time of the attack, told AFP in court.
“For us, the victims and relatives of the victims, it is not clear whether everyone has been brought to justice. It looks like these are not the people who could organise it. The investigative committee should continue its work,” he added.
The four gunmen — aged between 20 and 31 at the time — 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.
According to media reports, Mirzoyev’s brother was killed while fighting in Syria, which may have contributed to his radicalisation.
Hours after the attack, the suspects were brought to court, showing signs of torture, with one barely conscious in a wheelchair. Videos circulating on social media and allegedly linked to security services appeared to show bloody interrogations.
The TASS state news agency reported this month, citing a lawyer, that two suspects — Dzhabrail Aushyev and Khusein Medov — had asked the court to allow them to fight in Ukraine instead of serving life sentences.
Throughout the war, Russia has recruited prisoners for its military campaign, offering them reduced sentences if they survive combat.
According to the lawyer quoted by TASS, Medov said he wanted to “redeem his guilt with blood.”
Prosecutors also called for the revocation of Russian citizenship from relatives of one of the gunmen.
Following the attack, Russia — which has seen a growing conservative shift during the ongoing war — tightened anti-migrant laws and intensified its rhetoric against foreigners.
The measures have created tension with some of Moscow’s Central Asian allies, whose governments have urged Russia to uphold the rights of their citizens.
Central Asian migrant workers have long played a key role in Russia’s economy, though migration to the country declined after the start of the military campaign in Ukraine, with further drops following the post-attack crackdown.