The Tajikistani national is accused of transferring funds to the gunmen believed to be responsible for the massacre
Yakubjoni Yusufzoda, involved in the criminal case related to the Crocus City Hall terrorist attack is seen inside a defendant’s cage during a hearing on pretrial restrictions at Basmanny district court, in Moscow, Russia. © Sputnik/Kirill Kallinikov
A tenth suspect has been placed under arrest in relation to the March 23 terrorist attack on the Crocus City music venue near Moscow, Basmanny District Court announced on Monday. Yusufzoda Yakubjoni –a Tajikistani national– is to remain in custody until May 22 and faces accusations of being involved in organizing a terrorist act.
According to the Russian Investigative Committee, several days before the Crocus incident, Yusufzoda is believed to have transferred money to one of the suspects allegedly involved, to provide accommodation for the terrorists. After the attack, he transferred another sum of money to one of the perpetrators of the massacre, investigators also claim.
Local media reports, citing the court case files, have claimed that Yusufzoda was born in 1998 and has a wife and three children. During his arrest last week, he is said to have “actively resisted” the police and refused to provide identification documents.
On Sunday, Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) also detained four militants in the southern Dagestan region who are accused of having a role in financing and providing equipment for the Crocus City Hall terrorist attack.
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The Basmanny Court had previously approved the arrest of four men believed to have carried out the attack, as well as five others who are accused of aiding the terrorists by providing them with money, a vehicle and an apartment.
On the evening of March 22, a group of gunmen armed with assault rifles attacked the Crocus City Hall in the Moscow suburb of Krasnogorsk, just before a concert by the rock band Picnic was due to start. The venue, with an estimated capacity of 7,500, was almost full at the time of the attack. The terrorists killed the guards, shot concertgoers on sight, then started a fire that quickly spread throughout the building.
At least 144 people, including three children, were killed in the attack, Russian Health Minister Mikhail Murashko reported on Friday. Over 550 are believed to have been injured, according to the latest media reports.