Bus explosion case in Nevinnomyssk sent to the court

On July 10, the criminal case about explosion of a passenger bus in the city of Nevinnomyssk, Stavropol Territory, as a result of which 27 persons suffered, has been sent to the Stavropol Territorial Court.

The indictment on the criminal case against Kostoev and Tsuroev, two former militiamen from Ingushetia, suspected of organizing the terror act, has been approved by Ivan Sydoruk, Deputy General Public Prosecutor of the Russian Federation in the South Federal District.

The official website of the Russian General Prosecutor's Office informs that Kostoev and Tsuroev are accused under part 2, Article 209, points a, f, g and h, part 2, Article 105, part 3, Article 30, points a, f, g and h, part 2, Article 105, part 2, Article 167, and part 3, Article 222, of the Russian Criminal Code ("Participation in a sustained armed group", "Murder of two and more persons, accomplished by a group of persons on preliminary arrangement, in a publicly dangerous way", "Deliberate destruction of property by explosion", and "Illegal circulation of weapon").

The investigation has established that on December 9, 2007, in Pyatigorsk Zurab Tsuroev, former employee of one of the units of private security under the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ingushetia, received an explosive from his ex-colleague Ibragim Kostoev masked as a one-litre pack of juice. The "Kommersant" correspondent was told at the investigatory department that at 4:30 p.m. Zurab Tsuroev took a bus Pyatigorsk-Stavropol. Prior to enter Nevinnomyssk, the accused Tsuroev got out of the bus, having left the bomb with a triggered timer under the back seat of the bus.

At the preliminary investigation he was recognized by the bus driver, passengers and the taxi driver who gave him a lift to a hotel in Nalchik.

The General Prosecutor's Office has emphasized that the terror act had been committed by the defendants, when they were members of the armed grouping active in the territory of Ingushetia, which was organized and headed by "a person known as Magas."