Russia jails three for 2004 Moscow metro blasts
Source: Reuters
MOSCOW, Feb 2 (Reuters) - A Moscow court on Friday sentenced three men to life imprisonment for two Moscow metro blasts in 2004 which killed 49 people and injured many more, a lawyer for one of the accused said. An explosion shattered a metro carriage in Moscow in February 2004, and another blast near a metro station and a crowded shopping centre followed in August that year. The court found the three men guilty of committing acts of terrorism as part of an armed rebel group, Maxim Ponarin's lawyer Natalia Alyoshina told Reuters. "We will appeal the verdict," she said. "We need to read the verdict in full and then decide what we disagree with." In March 2004, a previously unknown Chechen rebel group claimed responsibility for the February bombing. Since 1994, Russia has fought two wars against rebels in Chechnya who demand independence. It now says the situation there is stabilising despite sporadic fighting. According to media reports, the three men were members of an underground group based near Chechnya. The group, and others like it, espouse militant Islamist views and want to throw off Moscow's rule in the mainly Muslim North Caucasus region.
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