Mother of Boston suspects slams US over son’s death

MAKHACHKALA, Russia – The mother of the two brothers suspected of carrying out the Boston bombings on Thursday, April 25, launched an impassioned attack on the US authorities over the death of one of her sons, as her husband planned to return to the United States to find out what happened.

The parents of the two suspects Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, spoke to reporters at a news conference in the Russian region of Dagestan where they were living when the Boston marathon bombings took place.

The father, Anzor, calmly revealed plans to travel to the United States in the next days. But their mother Zubeidat, in a hugely emotional intervention, accused the US security services of needlessly killing her eldest son.

Tamerlan, 26, was killed in a chaotic shootout while Dzhokhar, 19, was gravely wounded during his capture by the US authorities.

Tamerlan was “killed, cruelly killed. I want to scream to the whole world, what did you do? He was alive!” Zubeidat, dressed in an Islamic headscarf, said in sometimes incoherent comments.

“He was alive! Why did they need to kill him? Why? They got him alive,” she said speaking in English and standing up as her husband remained seated.

Zubeidat reaffirmed her belief that her sons were innocent of the Boston bombings. “I know one thing, that my children did not do this. There is a lot that is not comprehensible.”

She also expressed worry over the injuries to Dzhokhar that he received during his capture. “He has a really bad wound on his neck. He is getting better but he is still weak.”

Zubeidat and Anzor were speaking after they met investigators from the US FBI in Dagestan earlier this week in a trip organised by the US embassy in cooperation with the Russian authorities.

Anzor, wearing dark sunglasses and unlike his wife speaking mainly in Russian, said he planned to go to the United States.

“I plan to go to the United States to clear everything up. I am not looking for revenge or to offend. Let the special services sort it out,” Anzor told reporters.

Anzor Tsarnaev said he expected to leave for the United States later Thursday or on Friday. He said Zubeidat had not decided whether to accompany him, apparently due to shoplifting charges against her dating from 2012.

“I want to see my youngest son and bury my eldest,” he said.

Zubeidat said she wanted Tamerlan’s body to be brought from the United States for burial at home but was not sure how this could be carried out.

The parents have been recently living in Dagestan, an overwhelmingly Muslim region on the Caspian Sea where the family briefly stayed before leaving for the United States.

Anzor is an ethnic Chechen born in Kyrgyzstan while Zubeidat is an ethnic Avar who hails from Dagestan itself. She made frequent religious references during the meeting with media in the main Dagestani city of Makhachkala.

Dzhokhar has been charged with federal terror offences over the twin blasts on April 15 that killed three and wounded 264 people at the Boston Marathon’s finish line.

There have been mounting questions in the United States about whether the US authorities missed crucial signals that should have raised suspicions about the two brothers before the bombings.

Particular interest has surrounded a trip of around six months made by Tamerlan in 2012 to the Northern Caucasus, and whether he made contact with the Islamist underground in the Northern Caucasus.

The avowed aim of the trip was to obtain a new Russian passport which in the end he never picked up and US investigators want to find out if the real purpose was to make contact with Muslim extremists. – Rappler.com