Moscow court places another suspect in Crocus City attack case in custody

MOSCOW. April 5 (Interfax) - Moscow's Basmanny District Court has granted investigators' motion to order the arrest of Muhammad Sharipzoda, another suspect in the probe into the terror attack on the Crocus City Hall concert venue outside Moscow, the court's press service told Interfax.

"The court has ruled to select custody until May 22, 2024 as a measure of restraint for Muhammad Zoir Sharipzoda," the press service said on Friday.

According to the court, Sharipzoda is a Tajik national. Investigators believe the suspect participated in preparations of the terror attack, the court said. He has been charged with perpetrating a terror attack, which entailed the death of an individual, as part of an organized group.

Russia's Federal Security Service said on April 4 that two foreign nationals and one Russian citizen had been detained in Moscow, Yekaterinburg and Omsk. The FSB believes they were implicated in financing and recruiting the terrorists who participated in the Crocus City Hall attack.

In the evening of March 22, minutes before the Picnic rock band was due to begin their live performance at the Crocus City Hall concert venue, a group of gunmen broke into the building that accommodates the concert hall and started shooting at visitors and staff. During the attack, the assailants set the concert hall on fire. According to the latest information, the attack has left 144 people dead and another 551 injured.

The Russian Investigative Committee is probing the terror attack case. By now, multiple suspects have been arrested in the case, including the four individuals who investigators believe perpetrated the terror act, and several individuals who are believed to have helped prepare the attack by providing accommodation, transport vehicles and transferring money to the attackers.