MOSCOW, March 12 - A military court in Russia on Thursday handed life sentences to four Tajik nationals and issued lengthy prison terms to 11 accomplices for their involvement in a mass shooting at a concert venue near Moscow that left 149 people dead, state news agency TASS reported.
Prosecutors had charged 19 individuals in connection with the attack at Crocus City Hall on March 22, 2024. Russian state media described the incident as the deadliest such attack in the country in two decades. The militant organisation Islamic State-Khorasan, also known as ISIS-K, claimed responsibility for the assault.
In addition to the four life sentences, Russian state news agency RIA reported that four other defendants received prison terms ranging from 19 to 22 years. The available reports did not specify how the defendants pleaded, nor did they indicate whether the convicted individuals intend to lodge appeals.
The trial proceedings took place behind closed doors, which Russian authorities customarily apply in cases of this nature. The secrecy of the hearings was reiterated in state coverage, and it remains unclear from the public reports how much of the evidence or testimony will be disclosed in any subsequent public filings.
ISIS-K is described in the reports as the Afghan offshoot of the broader militant group that previously sought territorial control in Iraq and Syria. State reporting also linked ISIS-K to several other planned attacks in southern Russia and Azerbaijan in recent years, a string of plots that officials say has raised concern within intelligence services.
Official accounts filed in state media emphasised the scale of the Crocus City Hall attack and the number of defendants prosecuted, but left several procedural questions unanswered in publicly available reporting. The combination of closed hearings and reported links to a transnational militant group means key details remain confined to authorities and their internal records.
Reporting note: Public reporting cited in this article comes from Russian state news agencies and describes the judicial outcomes and assertions by authorities regarding responsibility for the attack.