Chechen suicide bomber Muzhakhoyeva jailed

The Moscow City Court has sentenced Zarema Muzhakhoyeva who tried to commit a terrorist attack in central Moscow to 20 years in jail, a RIA Novosti correspondent reports from the court.

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

According to the court ruling, in June 2003 Muzhakhoyeva joined a Wahhabi group in Grozny. "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 organised criminal group, and her crime was motivated by national and religious hatred," the court decided.

The court sentence took it 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 was announced, Muzhakhoyeva screamed, "I did not hate you before this, but I do now, and when I return, I will blow you all up!" Muzhakhoyeva is facing charges pursuant to the Criminal Code's articles on "terrorism" and "crime preparation". Moreover, she was accused of "causing death by carelessness." Muzhakhoyeva has pleaded guilty only of "illegal storage and transportation of explosives."