MOSCOW, February 2 (RIA Novosti) - Moscow's city court has sentenced three defendants in the case of terrorist attacks on the Moscow subway in 2004 to life imprisonment Friday.
A bomb detonated in a train carriage between the central metro stations Avtozavodskaya and Paveletskaya in February, 2004 and another bomb went off near the entrance to the Rizhskaya station in northern Moscow in August. A total of 49 people were killed and over 300 were injured in both terrorist attacks.
Murat Shavayev, Tamby Khubiyev and Maxim Panaryin were found guilty on charges of terrorism, murder, affiliation with a criminal group, illegal possession of arms, and the making of an explosive device.
In addition to the prison terms, the court ordered them to pay over 6 million rubles ($226,500) for moral damages they inflicted.
The prosecution in the case said it was satisfied with the verdict, while a lawyer for Panaryin, who partially admitted his guilt, said he would appeal to a higher court, as his client was not guilty on some charges.
"Maxim Panaryin did not admit his guilt on some charges," Natalia Alyoshina said. "We also feel that the classification of the crimes was wrong and will appeal the verdict."
Lawyers for Shavayev, who used to work for the Justice Ministry, and Khubiyev said they too would file appeals within 10 days.
Igor Trunov, a lawyer for the victims, also said he was satisfied with the verdict, but did not agree with the court's decision to reduce the previously announced sum of 36,200,000 rubles ($1.37 million) the accused must pay in damages.
"The issue of compensation for damages has not been settled," Trunov said.
The three are also suspected of involvement in a series of terrorist attacks at bus stops in the southwestern city of Voronezh and in Krasnodar, in southern Russia.
