‘Conspiracy to obstruct justice’: Boston bombing suspect’s friends plead not guilty

The 19-year-olds from Kazakhstan are charged with impeding the investigation into the April 15 attack.

BOSTON:

Three friends of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev appeared in court on Friday, pleading not guilty to separate charges of lying to investigators and conspiring to obstruct justice.

Dias Kadyrbayev and Azamat Tazhayakov, both 19-year-olds from Kazakhstan, are charged with impeding the investigation into the April 15 attack that left three dead and about 200 injured by trying to conceal and cover-up evidence.

Robel Phillipos, 19, another college friend of Tsarnaev’s, pleaded not guilty to charges he lied to police after the attack.

In the wake of the Boston Marathon blasts, police carried out a massive manhunt for Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who allegedly planted two pressure-cooker bombs near the finish line.

The indictment alleges that after the FBI released photographs of the suspects, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev sent Kadyrbayev a text message suggesting that he go to Tsarnaev’s “room and take what’s there.”

The three young men then went to Tsarnaev’s dormitory room and removed a laptop and a backpack containing fireworks and other items, prosecutors allege.

Later that night Kadyrbayev is accused of putting the backpack in a garbage bag and placing it in a dumpster outside their apartment.

During later questioning, Phillipos hid these events from police and “in so doing, he made numerous false and misleading statements to the agents,” according to the indictment.

Kadyrbayev’s lawyer Robert Stahl said his client had “no criminal intent to obstruct justice to assist Dzhokar in any way.”

“My client is shocked and horrified as the rest of us about what happened and there was no context for him to put this in because Dzhokar was not radical, not religious and never expressed any of these views.”

Published in The Express Tribune, September 14^th, 2013.