Chechen man commits suicide at police station before Crocus City Hall attack

Commissioner for Human Rights in Chechnya, Mansur Soltaev, said that Askhab Uspanov, a Chechen native, who was detained in Moscow in connection with the bloody terrorist act at Crocus City Hall, had nothing to do with the attack.

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The man's relatives also said that he was detained several hours before the attack, but not after it as media reported.

According to Baza Telegram channel, officers stopped Uspanov at 16:50 on March 22. About ten minutes later he was taken to the police station and placed in a special detention center. A report of petty hooliganism was filed against the man. An hour and a half later he was found dead.

"All attempts to link Uspanov's detention and death to the terrorist attack at Crocus City Hall are provocative in nature," Mansur Soltaev, Commissioner for Human Rights in Chechnya said.

Uspanov commits suicide at the police station

According to the official version of law enforcement agencies, the detainee committed suicide at the police station. The uncle of the deceased asked the Ombudsman to assist in ensuring a thorough investigation into the death of his nephew.

Uspanov's body was found at 18:22. Paramedics pronounced the man dead at 18:36, an hour and a half before the terrorist attack at Crocus City Hall.

On the evening of March 22, four armed men burst into Crocus City Hall before the concert of Picnic rock band. They opened fire at people and set the building on fire. The attackers were detained in the Bryansk region of Russia. According to most recent data, 144 people were killed in the attack, of whom 134 were identified. Another 695 people were injured. The perpetrators of the terrorist attack are natives of Tajikistan. They are currently under arrest.