Five members of the terrorist group Daesh face prison terms in Türkiye for their links to perpetrators of a terrorist attack in Moscow last March. At least 144 people were killed in the attack at Crocus City Hall, which was claimed by the terrorist group. Four gunmen stormed the venue before the start of a rock concert, opened fire on the audience and set fire to the building. It was the deadliest attack in Russia in about two decades.
Suspects linked to perpetrators were arrested in Istanbul and the Chief Prosecutor’s Office in the city recently wrapped up an indictment against them. Prosecutors say the suspects, who include Tajik nationals, were in touch with Shamsidin Fariduni and Saidakrami Rajabalizoda, two perpetrators of the Moscow attack.
Russia detained the perpetrators following the deadly attack, who now face life in prison. Some reports on Russian media outlets claimed that the terrorists came to Russia from Türkiye, but security sources noted that the perpetrators had been residing in Moscow for a long period and had to visit another country and chose Türkiye due to its proximity to extend their stay in Russia.
Turkish prosecutors say Tajik national M.F., among the suspects in the indictment, accompanied by his wife and child, arrived in Türkiye on Jan. 5, 2024, with Rajabalizoda. M.F. and H.U., another suspect in the indictment, stayed in a Daesh “safe house” in Istanbul’s Esenyurt district with Fariduni. Six days after the Moscow attack, M.F. and his family sought to travel to Afghanistan via Iran and bought bus tickets to a town on the Turkish-Iranian border. Apparently suspecting police were onto them, they stopped the bus on the road and were captured by police on the highway.
The indictment says H.U. and two other suspects in the indictment also planned to leave for Iran after the attack and H.U. had earlier exchanged phone calls with a number registered under the name of Fariduni.
All suspects acted in coordination, according to the prosecutors who say that Fariduni also stayed in a Daesh safe house in Istanbul’s Avcılar district with H.U. Other evidence against the suspects include correspondence found on their cellphones and Daesh propaganda materials they had in their possession.
One correspondence found in the cellphones of one of the suspects includes an unidentified person contacting him to carry out a bomb attack at Vegas Shopping Center, promising to supply necessary material for the bombing and paying him 800,000 rubles ($7,200). The suspect’s contact told him that he would be extracted from Russia after he planted the bombs and be taken to the Belarussian border.
Prosecutors ask for prison terms of up to 15 years for suspects on charges of membership in a terrorist group. An Istanbul court approved the indictment, while a trial date is not scheduled yet.