Those accused of carrying out the Crocus City Hall terror attack on trial in Moscow, 4 August 2025. Photo: EPA / YURI KOCHETKOV
A Moscow military court has sentenced the four perpetrators of the 2024 terror attack on the capital’s Crocus City Hall, in which 149 people lost their lives, and 15 of their accomplices to life imprisonment, Russian state-affiliated news outlet RBC reported on Thursday.
For carrying out the attack, Tajik citizens Shamsidin Fariduni, Dalerzhon Mirzoyev, Murodali Rachabalizoda and Muhammadsobir Fayzov were each given life sentences of between 16–18 years in prison, with their remaining terms to be served in a corrective labour colony.
The court also handed down life sentences to 15 accomplices to the attack, including four men it found guilty of providing the perpetrators with transport and accommodation. The court also imposed fines on 15 of the 19 culprits ranging from 500,000 rubles (€5,470) to 2.7 million rubles (€29,500).
During the seven-month trial, approximately 2,700 experts were consulted and a case file spanning 478 volumes was produced, according to a spokesperson for Russia’s Investigative Committee.
In a post on MAX, the Investigative Committee also said that it had “definitively proved” that the attack was planned and carried out in the interests of Ukraine’s government, “with the goal of destabilising the political situation” in Russia.
The attack on the popular Moscow concert venue took place on 22 March 2024, and in addition to the 149 dead, left around 600 more people injured, after multiple armed men entered the suburban Moscow entertainment complex and opened fire at people gathered there for a concert. Fires were also set on the upper floor of the venue as the shooting continued, with several explosions being reported before the roof eventually collapsed.
The Islamic State — Khorasan (IS-K), a branch of IS which operates primarily in eastern Afghanistan and recruits members from Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, claimed full responsibility for the attack in 2024.
An alleged member of IS-K was arrested in the United States in March 2025 accused of planning several terrorist attacks, including that on the Crocus City Hall. Mohammad Sharifullah confessed to the FBI that he had taught the perpetrators of the attack in Moscow to use rifles and other weapons on behalf of the IS-K leadership.
Moscow has repeatedly asserted that Ukraine was also involved in planning the attack, however, a charge which Kyiv has always categorically denied.
