UPDATES WITH SUSPECT'S DENIAL OF DIRECT INVOLVEMENT, REVISES DECK AND LEDE
By Diyar Guldogan
ANKARA (AA) - The suspected organizer of the deadly St. Petersburg metro blast which killed at least 14 people and injured dozens denied being "directly" involved in the attack, Russian news agency TASS reported Tuesday.
"I do not object to the arrest, but what the investigator said about my confession [earlier on Tuesday] is not true," Azimov Abror Akhralovich was quoted as saying by TASS.
Earlier in the day, TASS reported that the 27-year-old native of the Central Asian region had admitted his guilt, quoting his lawyer Armen Zadoyan.
"He [Azimov Abror Akhralovich] admitted his guilt," Zadoyan reportedly said.
Azimov said at a court hearing later on Tuesday that he was involved in the attack, but not "directly".
"I did not know what I was doing as I was only executing commands, which I received," he said.
Azimov was detained near Moscow on Monday over charges of being involved in the attack and training the suicide attacker.
Russia’s Investigative Committee said on April 4 that Akbarzhon Jalilov, a 22-year-old Kyrgyz national, was identified as the man behind the metro blast a day earlier.