The attack
On January 24, 2011, a suicide bomber detonated an explosive in the international arrivals area of Moscow Domodedovo Airport. Russian court and investigative records used in the later prosecution state that 37 Russian and foreign citizens were killed and 172 people were injured.
The suicide bomber was identified as Magomed Yevloyev. Russian investigators alleged that he belonged to an armed network associated with the Caucasus Emirate. Doku Umarov later publicly claimed responsibility for the attack, but a public claim is not the same thing as a criminal conviction.
Investigation
Investigators reconstructed the bomber's travel to Moscow and focused on people accused of housing, transporting and assisting him before the attack. The criminal case brought to trial centered on four defendants: brothers Islam and Ilez Yandiyev, Bashir Khamkhoev and Akhmed Yevloyev, the bomber's brother.
Prosecutors alleged that the defendants helped move the bomber from Ingushetia to Moscow, arranged accommodation and assisted the operation that sent him to the airport. The defendants did not all accept the prosecution's account, and defense lawyers challenged the sufficiency of the evidence.
Trial and convictions
On November 11, 2013, the Moscow Region Court convicted all four defendants on terrorism and related criminal charges. Islam Yandiyev, Ilez Yandiyev and Bashir Khamkhoev received life sentences. Akhmed Yevloyev received a 10-year prison term.
The court also awarded civil damages to victims. In November 2014, the Supreme Court of Russia upheld the core sentences, while removing a secondary post-release restriction attached to some of the judgments.
Why this file is classified as partially solved
The 2013 trial established criminal responsibility for four people who assisted the attack, and the suicide bomber's identity was known. That does not mean every alleged organizer was brought before the same court.
Contemporary investigative and court reporting stated that proceedings or searches continued in relation to other alleged organizers after the four convictions. Crime by Region therefore treats the attack as substantially adjudicated but not fully resolved at the wider command level.
Timeline
January 24, 2011: the bombing occurs in the international arrivals hall at Domodedovo Airport; 37 victims are killed and 172 are recorded injured in the later court account.
2011–2012: investigators identify Magomed Yevloyev as the suicide bomber and build a case against alleged facilitators.
November 11, 2013: four defendants are convicted; three receive life imprisonment and one receives 10 years.
November 25, 2014: Russia's Supreme Court leaves the principal prison sentences in force.
Current status
The convictions of the four defendants remain the central adjudicated outcome located in reliable sources reviewed for this August 2026 update. Three received life sentences and Akhmed Yevloyev received 10 years. Because the broader organizer question was not fully resolved in that trial, this archive labels the case partially solved rather than implying that every participant was judicially identified.
Sources
- ITAR-TASS — Moscow court guilty verdict in the Domodedovo bombing case, November 11, 2013
- Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty — sentencing of the four defendants, November 11, 2013
- Rossiyskaya Gazeta — Supreme Court review of the four sentences, November 25, 2014
- Interfax — later summary of the attack, convictions and continuing investigative context