Shortly after Russian law enforcement was captured the four suspects of the Crocus City Hall terror attack – now agreed to be the work of Islamic State in Khorasan Province (ISIS-K) extremists – images indicating their torture surfaced for the whole world. To the joy of many pro-war and ultranationalist social media channels, a video of suspect Rajab Alizade having his ear cut off and being forced to eat it had surfaced.

Another suspect, Shamsiddin Fariduni, was pictured lying down with his jeans lowered and being electrocuted by wires attached to his genitals. By the time all four suspects appeared in court for their trial on March 24, and were found guilty two days later, it was obvious that all of them had undergone some level of torture since their capture.

It is unclear to what extent that torture was done at the behest of orders from the Kremlin. However, there is no evidence of the responsible Russian law enforcement employees facing disciplinary action. Regardless, the decision to use violence towards the suspects so visibly is best explained by the desire to not only instill fear in other extremists considering committing any terrorist act inside Russia, but also to show that despite the terrible violence they committed, they are ultimately weak and vulnerable.

Whilst some segments of Russia’s population may be satisfied by this perceived act of vengeance, it........

© The Moscow Times