Moscow’s proud promotion of the brutal treatment of men accused of Crocus City Hall attack marks watershed moment Warning: contains descriptions of torture readers may find distressing. There was no attempt to hide the evidence of torture. In fact, its perpetrators – serving officers in the Russian military and intelligence services – may have already received state awards for bravery. By the time the men accused of murdering 137 people at a concert on Friday night appeared in court in Moscow on Sunday, their faces were swollen and disfigured, their eyes vacant. One, named as Saidakrami Murodali Rachabalizoda, arrived with gauze over his ear. A video released online showed one of his captors, who appeared to be Russian military personnel, slicing off his ear and shoving it in his mouth, telling him to eat it. Others beat him with their rifle butts. After his arrest, Shamsidin Fariduni appeared in a photo lying on the floor of a school gym, his pants pulled down around his knees and with wires connected his genital area. The photograph was published by a Telegram channel connected to the Wagner paramilitary group and suggested Fariduni had been shocked with 80 volts and water had been poured over his body to “intensify the effect”. Dalerdzhon Barotovich Mirzoyev arrived with new bruises after his interrogation. He also had a plastic bag wrapped around his neck that observers think might have been used to asphyxiate him. Muhammadsobir Fayzov was brought into the courtroom in a wheelchair and appeared to lose consciousness during the hearing. Photographs circulating online appeared to show that one of his eyes was missing, Reuters reported. There is little to no sympathy in Russia for the gunmen who stormed the Crocus City Hall on Friday night and carried out the worst terrorist attack on Russian soil since the Beslan school siege of 2004. Video filmed by the men themselves and published by Islamic State shows them cold-bloodedly killing wounded men and women attending a rock concert as they urged themselves on to “show no mercy” and “kill them all”. But the promotion of the suspects’ brutal treatment by law enforcement and high-ranking Russian officials after their capture has surprised even seasoned observers of the Russian security services.
via guardian: Russia lauding torture was unthinkable – now it is proud to do so