TerrorismJury selection begins in trial of two friends of Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev
Azamat Tazhayakov and Dias Kadyrbayev, two friends of Boston bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, are set to go on trial on charges of impeding the investigation into the deadly attack. Opening statements are scheduled for 7 July. Law enforcement says Tazhayakov and Kadyrbayev admitted they took Tsarnaev’s backpack from his dormitory room three nights after the bombing after they saw photographs of Tsarnaev on the news identifying him as one of the suspects. The backpack contained fireworks that had the black powder scooped out.
Dzokar Tsarnaev with the two defendants to his right // Source: vk.com
Azamat Tazhayakov and Dias Kadyrbayev, two friends of Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, are set to go on trial on charges of impeding the investigation into the deadly attack. Opening statements are scheduled for 7 July.
Law enforcement says Tazhayakov and Kadyrbayev admitted they took Tsarnaev’s backpack from his dormitory room three nights after the bombing after they saw photographs of Tsarnaev on the news identifying him as one of the suspects. The backpack contained fireworks that had the black powder scooped out.
“This discovery frightened Tazhayakov because the powder had been emptied from the tube. Kadyrbayev also found a jar of Vaseline in the room and told Tazhayakov that he believed Tsarnaev had used the Vaseline ‘to make bombs’. At that point, Tazhayakov believed that Tsarnaev was involved in planting the bombs at the Boston Marathon,” FBI Agent Scott Cieplik wrote in an affidavit.
The Guardian reports that Kadyrbayev told investigators he and Tazhayakov threw the backpack and fireworks in the trash “because they did not want Tsarnaev to get into trouble,” Cieplik wrote.
Kadyrbayev, who is scheduled to go on trial in September, is charged with putting the backpack and fireworks into a trash bag and throwing it into a trash bin. Authorities later found the items in a landfill.
Tazhayakov is accused of agreeing with the plan to get rid of the items.
Both Tazhayakov and Kadyrbayev are 20 and natives of Kazakhstan. They came to the United States in 2011 on student visas to attended the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth, where they became friends with Tsarnaev, who was born in Kyrgyzstan and who came to the United States with his family as a young boy.
Arkady Bukh, Tazhayakov’s lawyers, described his client as a young, naive immigrant who cooperated fully with police when he was questioned about Tsarnaev. He is not charged with having anything to do with the bombing or knowing about the attack ahead of time.
“For me, this sounds like a witch hunt,” Bukh said after Tazhayakov was indicted.
Text messages exchanged the night the men removed the items show that Tsarnaev texted Kadyrbayev and told him he could go to his room and “take what’s there.”
