While arresting one of the suspects of the Moscow concert hall attack, those presumed to be armed Russian law enforcement agents were seen beating the suspect, cutting off his ear and attempting to force him to eat his own ear in a series of videos circulating on social media.
Viewers might find some videos disturbing, and a word of caution is advised.
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In a video shared by Russian news outlet ASTRA, a bearded man could be seen whimpering on the snowy ground, surrounded by men in camouflage armed with rifles, who continued to beat the men while shouting “I’ll cut your f***ing head off, fa**ot.” One of the armed personnel could also be seen firing his rifle into the air in a likely attempt to intimidate the suspect.
In another video, what could be assumed to be the same man in the previous footage had his ear cut off, and the men in camouflage were seen forcing the bearded man to eat his own ear.
The investigation by ASTRA has shown the bearded man to be wearing the same T-shirt as one of the attackers shown in a video released by the ISIS-affiliated channel Amak, suggesting the bearded man was one of the attackers.
The man could be seen escorted to the vehicles by the same group of armed men, with blood all over his face.
It is not known where the pursuit took place – reports first put the location to the area bordering Belarus, but they were later changed to the Bryansk region bordering Ukraine as per the Kremlin’s narrative, which accused Ukraine of being involved in the attacks.
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According to Russian lawmaker Alexander Khinshtein, the white Renault car used by the suspects did not comply with the order to stop in the Bryansk region, where shooting ensued with one suspect arrested on the spot and others fleeing into the forest.
Videos have shown that most suspects had difficulties communicating in Russian. One of them was seen with his hands tied behind his back in a hospital bed who communicated with the authorities with the help of an interpreter.
Another suspect said he was approached by a preacher’s assistant a month ago and was offered 500,000 rubles ($5,426), of which he received half on his card. It’s not clear how they acquired the weapons and planned the attack based on the interrogation.
The attack at the Crocus concert hall near Moscow on the night of March 22 was one of the largest terrorist attacks in Europe, where gunmen, equipped with rifles and grenades, began firing on concertgoers and set the building on fire.
The attack killed more than 130 people at the time of writing, with more in critical condition. Western countries have warned of an imminent terrorist attack in 48 hours in Russia on March 7, which was shrugged off by most pro-Kremlin parties.
Russia declared today a day of mourning.
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