MOSCOW — Four suspects in Friday’s deadly attack at a concert hall in Russia were formally charged in a Moscow district court on Sunday.
The men are accused in the attack at Crocus City Hall in suburban Moscow, The New York Times reported. Officials with the Russian Investigative Committee said the death toll has risen to 137, including three children. Sixty-two victims have been identified so far, and authorities were using DNA testing to identify the rest of them, according to The Washington Post.
2 accept guilt, court says
Update 10:42 p.m. EDT March 24: According to a statement from the court, two of the suspects accepted their guilt, The Associated Press reported.
Russian media had reported that the suspects were tortured during interrogation by the security officials, according to the AP. Dalerjon Mirzoyev, Saidakrami Rachabalizoda and Shamsidin Fariduni showed signs of heavy bruising, including swollen faces, the news organization reported.
Rachabalizoda also had a heavily bandaged ear.
Original report: The first two suspects were identified by state news agency RIA Novosti as Dalerjon Mirzoyev, 32, of Tajikistan; and Saidakrami Rachabalizoda, the Times reported. Officials said that Rachabalizoda was born in 1994.
Mediazona, an independent Russian media outlet, identified the other two suspects as Shamsidin Fariduni, 26; and Muhammadsobir Z. Fayzov, 19, according to the Times.
The four men appeared separately before a judge on charges of committing a terrorist act and were remanded in custody until May 22. They face a maximum sentence of life in prison, the newspaper reported.
Events at cultural institutions in Russia were canceled and flags were lowered to half-staff, The Associated Press reported. Television entertainment and advertising was suspended, and throngs of people added flowers to a makeshift memorial near the charred remains of the concert venue, according to the news organization.
Crocus City Hall was about to host a concert by the rock group Piknik when gunmen charged into the foyer shortly after 8 p.m. local time, the BBC reported. The gunmen then entered the concert hall and opened fire. The suspects then used a flammable liquid to set fire to the seven-story building, according to the Russian Investigative Committee.
At least 60 other victims remain in serious condition, according to the BBC.
An affiliate of the Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for the attack, the deadliest on Russian soil in two decades, the AP reported.
On Oct. 23, 2002, dozens of armed Chechen terrorists took more than 750 people hostage when they seized the crowded Dubrovka Theater in Moscow, the Times reported. The siege lasted for several days until Russian special forces filled the building with gas to incapacitate the gunmen, according to the newspaper.
More than 100 hostages died as a result of the raid.
In September 2004, Chechen militants took over a school in the North Caucasus city of Beslan, taking more than 1,000 people hostage, the Times reported. The hostages included 770 children.
Three days after the standoff began, Russian security forces stormed into the school, which caught fire as they engaged with the Chechen fighters, according to the newspaper.
More than 330 hostages -- including 186 children -- were killed, the Times reported.
There was a heavy police presence around the Basmanny District Court, which is expected to determine pretrial restrictions for the men, who are suspected of opening fire on crowds of concertgoers at the suburban Crocus City Hall on Friday.