Part 4/4.
What can we expect after the Crocus massacre? 
Given Putin’s history of harnessing atrocities committed inside Russia to justify brutal and often anti-democratic responses, the response to this latest attack is unlikely to be pretty. 

The first thing Putin might do is implement some planned but predictably unpopular measures, Sergei Davidis, head of the Political Prisoners Support Program at Memorial Human Rights Center, told POLITICO. A prime example is the abolition of the elections of governors following the Beslan siege, a clearly unrelated event that was nevertheless used as a pretext for the planned measure.
“In that sense, it’s just a question of what their agenda is here,” Davidis said.

However, the war in Ukraine is already an extraordinary situation that has been exploited to tighten restrictions, including full censorship.
It is possible that the death penalty could be reinstated in Russia as some already demanded but is at the moment allegedly rejected by the Kremlin, “but introducing [it] is a Pandora’s box that they themselves may be afraid to open,” Davidis added.

Which leaves, Davidis explained, a reactive response typical of Russian authorities — imposing more restrictions. These could involve toughening sentences, expanding the range of offenses, criminalizing certain activities, or freeing the hands of law enforcement in dealing with terrorism suspects.

As previously reported, in the days after the Crocus attack, four suspects appeared in court with bruised and swollen faces, while a video published on Telegram appeared to show one of the suspects having part of his ear cut off and being forced to eat it. Another image on Telegram purported to show a second suspect being tortured by electric shocks to his genitals. The Kremlin declined to comment on whether the suspects were tortured.
The response of the authorities to the Crocus massacre has thus established a new trend: Law enforcement in Russia can brutalize suspects and take pride in it. The acceptable level of violence against alleged enemies of the people, recently expanded by the war in Ukraine, has risen yet again.

“If you can kill thousands of people with bombs, you don’t have to worry about someone’s ear being cut off or someone being electrocuted,” Davidis said.

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