Zarema Muzhakhoyeva sentenced to 20-years imprisonment

On April 8, the Moscow City Court sentenced Zarema Muzhakhoyeva who tried to commit a terrorist attack in central Moscow to 20 years in jail.

Muzhakhoyeva was found guilty of attempting to commit a terrorist act near the Imbir restaurant in 1st Tverskaya-Yamskaya Street in the heart of Moscow on July 10, 2003. Then, a FSB bomb disposal expert Sergey Trofimov was killed by the bomb.

According to the court ruling, Muzhakhoyeva joined a Wahhabi group in Grozny in June 2003. "Female members of the group, including Muzhakhoyeva, had to blow themselves up in crowded places," says the court ruling.

On June 3, 2003 three women of this group left for Moscow. On July 5, two of them committed the terrorist attack at the Krylya rock festival in Tushino (Moscow's northern outskirts) killing 18 people. "Hence, Muzhakhoyeva acted within an organized criminal group, and her crime was motivated by national and religious hatred," the court decided.

The court sentence took into consideration that the crimes committed by Muzhakhoyeva were particularly grave.

According to the court, before she was detained, the woman tried to switch on the explosive device, pressing the button at least twice. However, there was some malfunction and the terrorist attack failed.

Earlier, the jury found Muzhakhoyeva guilty of attempting to commit a terrorist attack. Reporters were not allowed in to hear the verdict of the jury, but they could hear from the corridor that after the verdict had been announced, Muzhakhoyeva screamed, "I did not hate you before this, but I do now, and when I return, I will blow you all up!"