Moscow court arrests tenth person in relation to Crocus City Hall terror attack News
JuliánAlejandroS, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Moscow court arrests tenth person in relation to Crocus City Hall terror attack

The Basmanny District Court of Moscow announced on Monday that a tenth person, a Tajik citizen named Yakubjoni Yusufzoda, was arrested for the Crocus City Hall terror attack that killed 134 people. 

“The court decided to satisfy the request of the investigator of the Investigative Committee, to select a preventive measure for Yusufzoda in the form of detention for a period until May 22,” said Judge Natalia Dudar.

Yusufzoda has been accused of transferring money to an accomplice to provide accommodation for the gunmen as well as an additional transfer after the attack was committed. He is charged with violating Part 3 of Article 205 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, which penalizes conspiracy to commit organized terrorism or terrorism resulting in death.

According to the investigation, the accused, a few days before the terrorist attack, transferred money from his bank card to an accomplice to provide accommodation for the terrorists. Allegedly, after committing the crime, he transferred part of the funds to one of the perpetrators. Yusufzoda was charged under paragraph “b” of Part 3 of Art. 205 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (terrorist act committed by a group of persons, resulting in the death of a person).

Yusufzoda is charged alongside nine other alleged accomplices who had appeared in court on March 25. The attack on Crocus Hall was described as “the most severe terrorist incident” happening in Russia in the last two decades, leaving over 130 deaths. The terrorist group ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack; however, the Russian government has yet to confirm if the organization was responsible. On Monday, Russia announced that it had demanded extradition from Ukraine of all individuals connected with terrorist acts. Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed that “a window has been prepared on the Ukrainian side” for the fugitives to escape, too. The fugitives were arrested near the Russian city of Bryansk, the capital of the Bryansk oblast, near the Ukrainian border.