The trial of 19 individuals accused of involvement in the March 2024 concert hall attack in Moscow began on Monday, August 4, 2025. The attack, which claimed 149 lives and injured over 600 people, was one of the deadliest in Russia’s modern history.
The four suspected gunmen, all citizens of Tajikistan, and 15 alleged accomplices appeared in court under heavy security. The suspects, identified as Saidakrami Murodali Rachabalizoda, Dalerdzhon Barotovich Mirzoyev, Shamsidin Fariduni, and Muhammadsobir Fayzov, sat in the defendants’ cage with their heads bowed.
The attack on the Crocus City Hall music venue was claimed by the Islamic State affiliate, IS-K. However, Russian investigators have alleged, without presenting credible evidence, that Ukraine was involved in the attack. “This inhuman crime was planned and committed in the interests of the current leadership of Ukraine in order to destabilise the political situation in our country,” Russian investigators said in a statement last month. These allegations have been vehemently denied by Kyiv, with Ukrainian officials calling them “baseless and absurd”.
The trial was held behind closed doors at the 2nd Western District Military Court in Moscow, with additional hearings scheduled for later this week. About 30 survivors were present in court. The attack sparked widespread outrage and grief in Russia, with many criticizing the country’s security services for failing to prevent the attack despite receiving warnings from Western intelligence agencies.
Human rights groups have criticized Russia’s treatment of the suspects, noting that they showed clear signs of torture when they first appeared in court after the attack. A video published online at the time of their arrest showed one of the captives having his ear sliced off and forced into his mouth while being ordered to eat it. The suspects reportedly lived in Moscow and its surrounding areas as part of the roughly 1.5 million Tajik migrants seeking a better future in Russia. They were allegedly recruited and radicalized by IS-K.
The attack has fueled a new wave of anti-migrant sentiment across Russia, with Central Asian migrants increasingly being subjected to police searches and arrests. Some have even been forcibly conscripted to fight for Russia in Ukraine. The head of Russia’s FSB security service, Alexander Bortnikov, previously claimed that he “believes” the US, Britain, and Ukraine were behind the attack, despite overwhelming evidence that IS-K was solely responsible.