Chechen widow jailed over foiled bombing
Zarema Muzhakhoyeva, aged 22, was convicted of terrorism and preparing and attempting to commit a crime.
Muzhakhoyeva, a widow of Russia’s war in Chechnya, is believed to have intended carrying out a suicide attack.
She was stopped at a Moscow restaurant but a bomb disposal expert died trying to defuse explosives found in her bag.
The blast came days after a double suicide bomb attack at a Moscow festival, which killed 14.
Muzhakhoyeva was arrested after being spotted acting suspiciously as she tried to take a rucksack into a restaurant. It is thought she lost her nerve to blow herself up and threw the bag into the street.
The rucksack contained the equivalent of 400 grammes of explosives which detonated, killing the Russian state security expert and shattering windows of nearby buildings.
Judge Pyotr Shtunder said he had taken into account Muzhakhoyeva’s age, that she had helped the investigation and positive character references from her hometown.
But he followed the jury’s recommendation that she should not receive a reduced sentence, given the severity and cruelty of the crime.
Prosecutor Alexander Kublyakov said Muzhakhoyeva had initially admitted pressing the button of the bomb several times to try to set it off, but she later disowned her testimony in the courtroom.
But in an interview with the newspaper Izvestia in February, Muzhakhoyeva said she had decided not to go ahead with a suicide bombing. She said she tried to attract attention without provoking punishment from minders who she claimed were following her.
Muzhakhoyeva said she believed they could detonate the bomb by remote control.
At the time, a robot was initially used to inspect the rucksack and picked it up a number of times.
It was only when the bomb disposal expert approached that it blew up, prompting police to believe it may have been detonated remotely.
Women in the Chechen rebel movement are known as “black widows” - wives who have lost their husbands in the war against Russian forces in the southern Russian Republic of Chechnya.
Some volunteer to carry out attacks, others are said to be coerced or drugged.
Muzhakhoyeva is reported to have told investigators that a middle-aged woman - who took charge of her after she flew into Moscow from the Caucasus to carry out the attack - kept insisting that she drink orange juice.
She said the drink gave her headaches and made her feel dizzy. Investigators believe the drink contained powerful opiates.
