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Domodedovo Airport terrorist act suspect makes partial confession

The court meets in camera because the case file contains classified documents
Photo ITAR-TASS
Photo ITAR-TASS

KRASNOGORSK, Moscow region, September 11 (Itar-Tass) —— The Moscow Regional Court has started hearing merits of the Domodedovo Airport terrorist act case. A suicide bomber blasted himself at the airport terminal on January 24, 2011, killing 37 people and wounding 172.

One of the prisoners in the dock, Islam Yandiyev, made a confession on three out of four counts. He denied being a member of an armed criminal group.

Ilez Yandiyev, Akhmed Yevloyev and Bashir Khamkhoyev refused to plead guilty. They were accused of terrorism, murder, attempted murder, illegal weapon and illegal making of an explosive device.

The questioning of aggrieved parties started on Tuesday. The hearing will continue on October 2.

The court meets in camera because the case file contains classified documents.

Ilez Yandiyev asked for a public trial. “I am innocent, I have nothing to conceal, so let the entire public watch this trial,” lawyer Vladimir Kocharian quoted his client to Itar-Tass. He said other defendants and their lawyers supported the request.

The prosecution disagreed. “Two volumes of classified documents” make a public trial impossible, they said.

The lawyer also said that Ilez Yandiyev had asked for a jury trial. “I realize that terrorism is not a jurisdiction of jurors, which means his appeal will be turned down. But my client is not a legal expert. He has the right to make appeals,” he said.

In the words of investigators, underage Magomed Yevloyev blasted a shaheed belt bomb in the hall of international arrivals of the Moscow Domodedovo Airport at about 4:30 p.m. Moscow time on January 24, 2011. The bomb was equivalent to up to five kilograms of TNT. It killed 37 people and injured 172, among them Russians and foreigners.

The detectives said that the four suspects helped Magomed Yevloyev to travel from Moscow to Ingushetia. They leased an apartment for him, supplied him with the shaheed belt, chose the site of the terrorist act and called a taxi for taking him to the airport.

The Ingush Supreme Court sentenced Bashir Khamkhoyev, 19, in February 2012 to nine years in a high-security penitentiary for taking part in an illegal armed unit and attacking a police officer. The court said Khamkhoyev installed a homemade bomb under the bottom of a car of interdepartmental security guard Salman Torshkhoyev and called for war in postings on the Khunafa website of militants.

The case has 117 volumes, in all. About 600 examinations were done, including those linguistic, psychological, psychiatric, composite imaging and pyrotechnic. There are 55 witnesses to the case.