Explosion at Cherkizovsky market

On August 21, 2006 an explosion at 10.30 a.m. at a Moscow market has killed 14 people, including at least two children. The blast brought down a two-storey building at the eastern Cherkizovsky market. Five Chinese citizens and one Vietnamese were among the dead. At least 40 people were injured.

The Cherkizovsky market is used mostly by traders from China and the Far East or from former Soviet republics in Central Asia.

Investigators said the impact of the explosion was equivalent to between 1 and 1 1/2 kilograms of TNT. It destroyed about 200 square meters of stalls, and badly damaged the pavilion roof.

Three or four people left a suspicious bag in the market’s cafe and tried to escape, unnamed witness said. Security was able to catch 2 of them, the one ran away.

On May 6, 2008 eight members of an extremist nationalist group were found guilty of causing a deadly explosion. Four of the ringleaders were sentenced to life while the other four were given terms of betwe Two of the gang were sentenced to 20 and 13 years respectively, while another pair got two years each. The sentences handed out were some of the harshest ever seen for this type of crime in Russia. Chief Prosecutor Sergey Chemichev said he was happy with the court.

“This is a fair sentence. Despite whatever patriotic slogans they used, the jury decided that what they were actually guilty of was the murder of women and children. The punishment fits the crime,” Chemichev said.

An investigation into the blast led police to the ‘Spas’ extreme nationalist group which operated under the cover of a martial-arts club.

Prosecutors claim the group also carried out a number of other terrorist acts.

Defence lawyers say the sentences are unfair and plan to take the case to the Supreme Court. “To lock up such ordinary, young Russian lads, without giving them the chance to have a life. Nikolay Korolev, the leader, is a deeply religious man. He only regrets that people had to die, not the blasts,” said Dmitriy Bakharev, Nikolay Korolev's lawyer.

Agentura.Ru March 16, 2011