Three suspects charged on eve of fortieth day since St. Petersburg metro attack

Moscow, May 12, 2017

Photo: RIA-Novosti

Official charges have been brought up against three suspects in last month’s terrorist attack in the St. Petersburg metro, Russia’s Investigative Committee spokeswoman Svetlana Petrenko told TASS on Thursday. The news comes on the eve of the fortieth day since the attack, which is being prayerfully remembered in St. Petersburg today.

“As of now, there are ten suspects in the criminal case. Three of them, Bakhram Ergashev, Ibragimzhon Ermatov and Makhamadyusuf Mirzaalimov, have been charged with committing crimes under clause b, part 3 of article 205 and part 2 of article 222.1 of the Russian Criminal Code (‘A Terror Attack’ and ‘Illegal Acquisition, Transfer, Sale, Storage, Transportation or Carriage of Explosives or Explosive Devices’),” she said.

The other accomplices in the terror attacks are to be charged shortly, the spokeswoman said.

The St. Petersburg metro system was rocked on April 3 by a bomb which went off as the train traveled from the Technological Institute Station to the Sennaya Square Station. The blast claimed fifteen people, including the suicide bomber, who was later established to have been Akbarzhon Dzhalilov, a Kyrgyzstani Muslim associated with ISIS. 102 people were also injured in the attack.

The day after the attack it was announced that all churches and monasteries in St. Petersburg would pray for the victims for forty days, adding the petition, “Again we pray for the repose of all the souls of the departed servants of God, and of the innocent victims of the terrorist act, for the remission of all their every transgression, whether voluntary or involuntary” to the liturgical litanies.

A spontaneous memorial popped up on the street today near the Technological Institute metro station, in honor of those killed, in addition to a panikhida served in the Trinity-Izmailovsky Cathedral, the closest church to the metro station. Relatives of those killed and injured were especially invited to the memorial service. A panikhida was also served this morning in St. Isaac’s Cathedral, and in other churches throughout the St. Petersburg Diocese.

According to the latest information, five injured remain in the hospital, with another 76 receiving outpatient care.