MOSCOW: A court in Moscow in Thursday convicted 19 people of involvement in the 2024 shooting rampage in a Moscow concert hall that killed 149 people and wounded over 600 in one of the deadliest attacks in the capital in years.
A faction of the Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the March 22, 2024, massacre at the Crocus City Hall concert venue in which four gunmen shot people who were waiting for a show by a popular rock band and then set the building on fire.
All 19 defendants were handed lengthy prison terms: 15 were sentenced to life in prison, one was handed 22 1/2 years in prison, and three others were given 19 years and 11 months each.
The trial began in August 2025 in a military court, as is customary for terrorism charges, and took place behind closed doors, with the authorities citing security concerns.
President Vladimir Putin and other Russian officials have claimed, without presenting evidence, that Ukraine had a role in the attack. Kyiv has strongly denied any involvement.
The Investigative Committee, Russia's top criminal investigation agency, has said that the attack had been "planned and carried out in the interests of the current leadership of Ukraine in order to destabilise the political situation in our country." It also noted that the four suspected gunmen tried to flee to Ukraine afterwards.
The four, all identified as citizens of Tajikistan, were arrested hours after the attack and later appeared in a Moscow court with signs of being severely beaten.
Those tried alongside them included three men who sold the suspected gunmen a car, a man they rented an apartment from, and 10 others accused of terrorist ties, according to independent Russian news site Mediazona.