Terror suspects in court
Experts: What Putin wants to achieve with the demonstrated violence
Updated on March 26, 2024 – 6:21 a.m. Reading time: 4 min.
Suspects in court: The men had visible injuries. (Source: reuters)
After the terrorist attack in Moscow, suspects appear in court seriously injured. Observers have a guess as to what the Russian power apparatus wants to demonstrate through torture.
Several days after the terrorist attack near Moscow with more than 130 deaths, the focus is primarily on four suspects who are now in custody. Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov initially declined to comment on the men’s serious injuries on Monday. Kremlin spokesman Peskov simply said to a CNN journalist who pointed out the injuries visible in the courtroom and the torture videos: “I’m leaving this question unanswered.”
Russian human rights activists spoke clearly about this. They condemned the alleged torture of the suspects by Russian security forces. “The answer to barbarism must not be barbarism,” said the Russian association “Komanda protiw pytok” (German: Team Against Torture) on Monday.
Violence and harassment also had an extremely negative impact on the investigation, the activists emphasized: “We have always said and will always say that the value of evidence that security forces obtain through torture is critically low. Instead of the truth, a person usually tells the thing that can stop or at least interrupt this torture.” Forced confessions could lead the investigation in a completely wrong direction.
Videos had previously appeared on social networks that were said to show that the suspected attackers were tortured. Cruel methods are shown. One of them has his ear cut off and shoved into his mouth by a security guard. Another is lying on the floor with his pants down; his genitals are said to be connected to electrical devices that produce a discharge voltage of 80 volts.
Recordings of prisoners following instructions from the top?
A total of eleven arrests were made after the attack in an event center near Moscow on Friday, in which 137 people were killed and, according to new information from the health authorities, 182 others were injured. Four of the suspects are considered to be the shooters – they are the ones who have now been brought before the judge. According to Tass, the arrest warrants were issued on Sunday evening. The four men were arrested at the weekend in the Russian border region of Bryansk and taken to Moscow.
Observers now suspect that the distribution of the cruel torture images is a signal deliberately sent by Kremlin ruler Putin. Leonid Volkov, a confidant of Kremlin opponent Alexei Navalny, who recently died in a prison camp, was convinced that the recordings had reached the public on instructions from the very top. The fact that the power apparatus is so demonstratively displaying its own cruelty is new, Volkov wrote in the Telegram news service. This is probably intended to distract attention from the “failure of the Russian secret services” before the attack, he said.
“Putin shows: For me there is no limit to evil,” said Russia expert Prof. Thomas Jäger to “Bild”. The Russian leadership otherwise always makes sure that it appears to act according to law and order. She bases all brutality on current Russian laws. “But now she is letting go of all camouflage,” Jäger is quoted as saying.
With the demonstrated violence, Russia is “simulating toughness” in dealing with Islamism, explained Bundeswehr expert Carlo Masala.
Human rights activists repeatedly report humiliation, mistreatment and brutal torture methods in the Russian penal system, but also in the army, the police and the secret services – at least since the Chechen war in 1996. Since Putin came to power 25 years ago, he has repeatedly used public abuse staged show trials for state demonstrations of power and deterrence.
