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Deliberations in Nevsky Express train bombing end in Tver court

The case includes 70 volumes
Photo ITAR-TASS
Photo ITAR-TASS

TVER, May 21 (Itar-Tass) —— Deliberations in the Nevsky Express train bombing case ended in the Tver Region Court on Monday, May 21.

The defendants were then allowed to make their last pleas. The last, tenth, defendant will be able to speak on Tuesday, May 22. After that the judge will retreat to the conference room to prepare the verdict.

The Nevsky Express train bombing case was transferred to the Tver Region Court on August 1, 2011 and was marked as “classified”.

The investigators earlier finished familiarising ten suspects and their 11 lawyers with the materials of the case.

“The case includes 70 volumes,” Investigation Committee spokesman Vladimir Markin said.

He recalled that more than 250 different examinations had been carried out during the investigation. A total of 231 people were recognised as affected parties.

Ten people have been detained in the case - Zelimkhan Aushev and the nine Kartoyev brothers.

On March 2-3, 2010, security forces carried out a special operation in Ingushetia and detained ten and killed eight active members of a criminal group that was involved in the Nevsky Express explosion.

After the Nevsky Express crash in November of last year, the Federal Security Service began an investigation targeting a group of gunmen in Ingushetia as there were reasons to suspect it of having committed the crime. The investigation produced additional materials that confirmed the suspicions.

When carrying out the investigation, security services found out that the group had also been involved in another 15 grave crimes, including murders of law enforcers and blowing up of vital and infrastructure facilities.

Material evidence directly related to the train explosion carried out by the group in November of 2009 was found at scene of the operation. Components of explosive devices identical to those used to blow up the Nevsky Express train in 2007 were found as well.

The Nevsky Express train was derailed in the evening of November 27, 2009, when a homemade bomb went off under the locomotive on the border of the Tver and Novgorod region. The explosion carried the force of about seven kilograms of TNT. As a result, 27 people died.

There were two explosions on November 27, 2009. The Nevsky Express passenger train crashed between the station of Uglovka and the station of Lykoshino, about 25 kilometres from the town of Bologoye on the border of the Tver and Novgorod regions. Three tail carriages derailed, one of which was completely destroyed.

The same train was blown up in 2007. The Nevsky Express passenger train shuttling between Moscow and St. Petersburg was derailed near Malaya Vishera on August 13, 2007. As a result, 60 people were injured. The incident was caused by a homemade bomb planted under the railway tracks. The explosion carried the force of two kilograms of TNT.