One of the men sentenced to life in prison over the Crocus City Hall attack has died in custody in an apparent suicide, Russian state media reported Monday, citing prison authorities.
Yakubdzhoni Davlatkhon Yusufzoda was among those convicted of helping finance the March 22, 2024, mass shooting at the Crocus City Hall concert venue in the Moscow suburb of Krasnogorsk. The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack, which left 149 people dead and wounded more than 600.
Last month, a Moscow military court handed life sentences to 15 defendants, including four gunmen and 11 accomplices found guilty of aiding and abetting terrorism. Four others received prison terms ranging from nearly 20 years to 22.5 years.
Yusufzoda pleaded not guilty in court, saying he had not known that his bank card was used to fund the attack.
The RIA Novosti news agency cited the Federal Prison Service (FSIN) as saying Yusufzoda died by suicide in a Moscow pre-trial detention center. He was being held at the Matrosskaya Tishina facility while awaiting transfer to a maximum-security prison pending an appeal.
A prison medic responded but was unable to revive him, FSIN’s Moscow branch said, according to RIA Novosti.
Separately, Kommersant newspaper, citing anonymous sources, reported that another convicted accomplice in the Crocus City Hall attack, Dzhabrail Aushev, tried to take his own life at the Krasnaya Presnya detention center.
Aushev, one of two men accused of converting blank-firing weapons into live firearms used in the attack, was revived by doctors, sources told Kommersant.
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