The trial of 19 suspects -- several from Tajikistan -- in last year's terror attack on the Crocus City Hall entertainment center just outside Moscow began on August 4 amid a backlash on Central Asian immigrants sparked by the assault.

The March 2024 attack left more than 140 people dead and more than 550 injured in the worst such attack in Russia in years. The Islamic State-Khorasan (ISIS-K), known to recruit mainly among Central Asians, claimed responsibility for the attack.

According to court documents, the four men accused of being present at the attack -- all Tajik nationals -- and 15 accomplices face charges of assisting, training, organizing, and participating in a terror attack.

A three-judge panel at the Second Western District Military Court will hear the case, which was open to the public on August 4. Experts say they expect that the main hearings during the trial where evidence will be given will be held behind closed doors.

Rightsactivistssay they fear the trial will not be fair given the four suspects captured a day after the attack bore signs -- one appeared to have had an ear cut off -- of having been beaten by police.

"In normal democratic countries, this would never happen - confessions were beaten out of people accused of a terrorist attack and they (the authorities) don't even hide it," human rights activist Karimjon Yorov told RFE/RL's Russian service.

Mukhammadsobir Faizov, one of the four suspects accused of participating in the March 22 terrorist attack on the Crocus City Hall, attends a remand hearing after being brought to the court from the intensive care unit.

Others questioned whether the accomplices rounded up had actually committed criminal offenses, saying that police were employing a guilt-by-association mentality.

Police have charged some with renting apartments to those allegedly involved

"In my opinion, they simply recruited scapegoats," said Gennady Gudkov, a former Federal Security Service (FSB) officer, who also was once a deputy in the State Duma and one of the few Russian politicians critical of the Kremlin.

"It is difficult to understand the degree of their guilt. I have the impression that this trial is an excuse for not conducting a real investigation."