Court Orders Pretrial Detention Of Ninth St. Petersburg Bombing Suspect

Abror Azimov, a suspect in the recent bombing in St. Petersburg, stands inside the defendant's cage at a Moscow court hearing.

A court in Moscow has ordered the pretrial detention of a ninth suspect in connection with the April 3 suicide bombing of a St. Petersburg subway train that killed 15 people and injured 45 people.

The ruling came after 26-year-old Abror Azimov pleaded partially guilty on April 18, saying he had "followed commands" of other people "without realizing that it was a part of preparation of a terrorist attack."

The court order remands Azimov in custody until June 3.

Azimov, a Russian citizen of Central Asian origin, was detained on April 17 in the Moscow region's Odintsovo district.

His arrest came several days after Russian authorities arrested eight other people from Central Asia in St. Petersburg and Moscow on suspicion of being involved in the attack.

Akbarjon Jalilov, a 22-year-old Kyrgyz-born ethnic Uzbek man with Russian citizenship, has been identified by Russian authorities as the suicide bomber.

Based on reporting by tvrain.ru and Interfax