Bus bombed in Nevinnomyssk

On December 9, 2007 two passengers have been killed and 14 wounded in an explosion at a bus station in the city of Nevinnomyssk, located in Stravropol Krai.

The bomb went off at about 4:30 p.m. Sunday while the bus was making a planned stop in Nevinnomyssk, a town in the Stavropol region, and the number of casualties would likely have been much higher if the bus had been on the road and full of passengers, Kommersant reported. Many of the passengers were outside taking a break when the explosion tore through the bus, which was heading from Stavropol to Pyatigorsk.

Besides the two dead women, identified as Susanna Gazoryan and Yelena Tarasova, 14 others were injured in the blast, Interfax reported.

The Nevinnomyssk bombing comes less than a month after a similar explosion killed six people in a neighboring region. The Nov. 22 blast hit a bus on the border between North Ossetia and Kabardino-Balkaria.

On December 17 it became known that the suspect in the recent terrorist attack in Nevinnomyssk detained by law enforcement agencies and is already producing the first confession. This was stated by representatives of the Investigation Committee. The terrorist said that he was disguised beneath his bomb.

It turned out that the detainee is a native and resident of the Ingush Republic, and his name in the interests of the investigation were not disclosed. Representatives of the Investigative Committee said that the suspect not only confessed to the attack, but it identified the surviving passengers of the bus exploded.

On July 10, 2008 the criminal case about explosion has been sent to the Stavropol Territorial Court. The Court started consideration of this criminal case on August 5, 2008.

According to the investigation, when the bus was still in Ingushetia, Kostoev and Tsuroev, two former militiamen from Ingushetia, placed a self-made bomb containing hexogen and strike elements (nails, screws, etc.), masked as a 1-litre juice pack, under the back seat of the bus, and triggered the bomb at about 4:35 p.m., when the bus arrived at the bus station in Nevinnomyssk.

The indictment on the criminal case 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.

On September 9, 2008 the Court has sentenced Kostoev and Tsuroev to 24 and 23 years of imprisonment, respectively, with serving their first 5 years in prison, and the remaining term - in a strict custody colony.

Then the case was sent to reconsideration by the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, where the verdict was cancelled because of contradictions in evidences of the main prosecution witness.

On January 17, 2009 the Stavropol Territorial Court is holding a repeated hearing on charges against Ruslan Kostoev and Zurab Tsuroev.

On July 7, 2009 the judicial panel on criminal cases of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation has upheld the verdict of the Stavropol Territorial Court passed to residents of Ingushetia Ruslan Kostoev and Zurab Tsuroev accused of blowing up the passenger bus "Pyatigorsk-Stavropol" at the bus station in the city of Nevinnomyssk on December 9, 2007. Thus, as reported by the press service of the General Prosecutor's Office (GPO) of the Russian Federation, the verdict on this criminal case has entered its legal force.

Agentura.Ru March 16, 2011