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Kremlin warns against linking child murder in Moscow with terrorism

Putin's spokesman referred to the suspect as a deranged person whose testimony has to be regarded accordingly
Floral and toy tributes left by mourners outside an apartment block in Moscow where a four-year-old girl was murdered  Mikhail Japaridze/TASS
Floral and toy tributes left by mourners outside an apartment block in Moscow where a four-year-old girl was murdered
© Mikhail Japaridze/TASS

MOSCOW, March 3./TASS/. Kremlin warns against premature attempts to link the recent cruel murder of a girl in Moscow with terrorism, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday.

"It would be absolutely incorrect to draw some conclusions now, as the probe, a court trial and so on continues," he said, noting that he personally saw as inadequate accusations that the Uzbek nanny arrested on suspicion of beheading the child, addressed to President Vladimir Putin over air strikes on Muslims, as they came from a deranged woman.

"Any words coming from such an insane woman should he regarded accordingly," he said.

Peskov also said he sided with the position of TV channels opting against showing "that awful tragedy".

According to  Investigative Committee spokesman Vladimir Markin, psychiatric assessment is required for establishing the causes behind the murder of the four-year-old girl by her nanny.

"Of course, the investigator who will be analyzing all circumstances of the crime will take into account the woman’s suspected medical diagnosis (schizophrenia) and identify the real motives. We will disclose it only after that," he said. "The suspect is under arrest. Very soon she will face criminal charges and undergo psychological and psychiatric examination at a Russian clinic in compliance with the Code of Criminal Procedure."

Uzbek national Gyulchehra Bobokulova was arrested in Moscow on Wednesday on suspicion of an atrocious murder of a four-year-old girl. She told journalists in court that "Allah ordered" her to commit the brutal crime.

According to investigators, on February 29 "after the parents [of the killed girl] and their senior child left the apartment" the 38-year-old nanny "for unknown reasons committed the murder, set the apartment on fire and escaped."

On the same day police officers detained her near the Oktyabrskoye Pole subway station, where she was walking carrying the head of the killed child and threatened others with organizing an explosion. After her detention, sappers found no explosive devices.

A law enforcement source said the suspect was examined by a psychiatrist after the detention, who said who was "in a state of an acute mental disorder.".