Attack near Moscow

Terror suspect dies of cruel torture

More than 100 people died in the terrorist attack on the Crocus City Hall in Moscow - hundreds more were injured.

(Bild: Associated Press)

One of the suspected terrorists arrested after the devastating attack in the Crocus City Hall near Moscow - the Chechen Ashab Uspanov - was tortured so severely in Russian custody that he died. In order to conceal this, the police are said to have tried to stage his "suicide".

On the same night that the attack was carried out, Uspanov was on his way home after work and was waiting for his bus at the bus stop when he was suddenly attacked by masked men, according to the Telegram channel "1ADAT". As he could not understand what was going on, he put up a fight. It later turned out that they were police officers.

More than 100 people died in the terrorist attack on Crocus City Hall in Moscow - hundreds more were injured.

(Bild: Associated Press)

Uspanov was arrested on suspicion of terrorism and detained at the police station. According to reports, he was tortured severely there - his ribs and spine were broken. The injuries were so severe that the man died. His body was marked with bruises and signs of suffocation. An off-screen voice describes how the police officers had tried to stage his suicide.

In this contribution, a picture of the deceased Chechen Ashab Uspanov is shown:

Russian police have now detained eleven people since the terrorist attack on Crocus City Hall. Their interrogations are described as brutal and many acts of torture are said to have taken place. For example, one terrorist suspect had his ear cut off during his arrest. As if that were not enough, the police forced him to eat it.

USA named Crocus City Hall as a possible terrorist target
According to a newspaper report, the US security authorities had warned the Russian side directly of a possible terrorist attack on the Moscow concert hall Crocus City Hall. In its report on Tuesday (US local time), the "Washington Post" newspaper referred to unnamed sources in the US government. The US intelligence services were very certain that the terrorist organization Islamic State (IS) was planning an attack on this very location.

(Bild: AP Photo/Dmitry Serebryakov)

(Bild: Sergei Vedyashkin/Moscow News Agency via AP)

(Bild: APA/AFP/STRINGER)

(Bild: APA/AFP/OLGA MALTSEVA)

The warning became public knowledge on March 7, when the US embassy and subsequently other Western missions in Moscow urged their citizens to avoid large public events in the coming days. A few days before the attack, Russian President Vladimir Putin dismissed the warning as a Western provocation. After the attack, the US National Security Council confirmed that Moscow had been notified through internal channels. However, these statements did not go into so much detail that even the specific location of Crocus City Hall was mentioned.

The "Washington Post" report contradicts statements made by the Russian foreign intelligence service SWR in Moscow on Tuesday. The head of SWR, Sergei Naryshkin, confirmed that the Russian domestic intelligence service FSB had been warned by the USA. "But our Russian colleagues say that the information was too general and did not allow us to find the people involved in this terrible crime," Naryshkin told the Interfax news agency.

Islamic State claimedresponsibility for the attack
 The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the attack in several letters of confession. Western security authorities and experts consider these messages to be credible. They assume that the attack was carried out by the IS offshoot Islamic State Province of Khorasan (ISPK). However, the Russian leadership is trying to portray Ukraine as the actual mastermind. Putin said at a meeting in the Interior Ministry on Tuesday that all beneficiaries of this crime should be investigated. He also announced that the actions of the security authorities and other agencies during the attack should be investigated.