The Second Western District Military Court in Moscow has sentenced 15 defendants to life imprisonment in the case of the terrorist attack at the Crocus City Hall concert venue in the Moscow region, including two natives of Ingushetia.
According to the court’s decision, life sentences were handed down to four citizens of Tajikistan — Shamsidin Fariduni, Dalerjon Mirzoev, Muhammadsobir Faizov, and Saidokrami Rachabalizoda. Investigators and the court considered them to be the direct perpetrators of the attack on the concert hall.
According to the prosecution, they acted as members of Wilayat Khorasan, the Afghan branch of the terrorist organisation the Islamic State. Shortly after the attack, Russian authorities claimed that Ukrainian special services might have been involved in the attack, accusations that Kyiv has rejected and said are baseless.
Today, the Russian Investigative Committee issued an official statement saying the investigation is continuing, reiterating the alleged ‘Ukrainian connection’, and saying the search for the organisers of the terrorist attack is ongoing.
Life imprisonment was also imposed on Shahromjon Gadoev, Zubaydullo Ismoilov, Huseyn Khamidov, Muhammad Sharipzoda, Yakubjoni Yusufzoda, Nazrimad Lutfulloli, and Jumakhon Kurbonov, as well as the brothers Umedjon and Mustakim Soliev. According to investigators, they were involved in preparing the attack and assisting the perpetrators.
Among those sentenced to life imprisonment were also natives of Ingushetia Huseyn Medov and Dzhabrail Aushev, whom investigators considered to be accomplices in the attack. Both are members of the Ingush religious brotherhood of Batalhadzhins. According to investigators and the court, their role consisted of passing on the coordinates of a weapons cache to the attackers, which was later used during the assault.
In July 2025, Aushev asked the court to terminate the criminal proceedings against him, but the court denied the request. In December 2025, Aushev attempted to take his own life in the Matrosskaya Tishina Pre-Trial Detention Centre, but was prevented from doing so at the last minute.
Elizaveta Chukharova
Representatives of the defendants said that the men deny participating in the terrorist attack but admit involvement in the illegal trafficking of weapons. According to them, they did not know how or where the weapons would be used.
Medov and Aushev, together with Khavazh-Bagaudin Aliev and Batyr Kulaev, were accused of complicity in the attack in early November 2024. Medov and Aushev were detained and taken to Moscow. Aliev and Kulaev were placed on the wanted list. During searches, investigators said they found a patch belonging to the BOBR Akhmat unit — a Batalhadzhin detachment taking part in the war against Ukraine as part of the Akhmat special forces.
The Batalhadzhins are a religious group in Ingushetia. Its members consider themselves followers of the Sufi sheikh Batal-Hadzhi Belkhoroev, who lived at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. The brotherhood is considered one of the most closed religious communities in Ingushetia. According to various estimates, it may have around 20,000 members.
Membership in the brotherhood is traditionally passed down through family lines. Representatives of the Batalhadzhins have maintained contacts with the leadership of Chechnya at various times.
The persecution of the Batalkhadzhins began soon after the 2019 Moscow killing of Ibragim Eldzharkiev, the head of the Ingush Centre for Combating Extremism. The crime is linked to a blood feud for Ibragim Belkhoroev, the leader of the brotherhood and great-grandson of Sheikh Batal-Khadzhi, who had been killed by the security services.
In 2023, Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) added the ‘armed wing of the followers of Batal-Khadzhi’ to the list of terrorist organisations.
Four other defendants received lengthy prison terms rather than life sentences. A native of Kyrgyzstan, Alisher Kasimov, was sentenced to 22 years and six months in prison. According to investigators, he rented out a flat to the accused. He stated that he did not know about the plans for the attack. Brothers Dilovar and Aminchon Islomov, as well as their father Isroil, received 19 years and 11 months in prison. The family owned a Renault car that the defendants used after the attack. They also said they did not know that they had provided the car to the attackers.
The terrorist attack at the Crocus City Hall concert venue took place on 22 March 2024. According to the Russian Investigative Committee, armed men entered the complex before the start of a performance and opened fire on visitors with automatic weapons. A fire later broke out in the building. According to official data, 150 people were killed, including six children. More than 600 people were injured.
