MOSCOW, May 6 (RIA Novosti) – Defense of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who faces death penalty for Boston Marathon bombing, filed a complaint about FBI agents being constantly present at lawyers’ meetings with the suspect, which violates his right to private counsel, Boston Globe newspaper reported Tuesday.
“Defense counsel are thus more convinced than ever of the need for a reasonable degree of privacy and confidentiality for this series of legal visits and request that the court so order,” Tsarnaev’s lawyers were quoted as saying.
According to the attorneys, FBI agents are being “needlessly intrusive” and their monitoring goes beyond public safety purposes.
“Raising such paper-thin concerns about security is a no-lose proposition for the government, because even the flimsiest of arguments, once ominously repeated and amplified by the news media, will inevitably tend to inflame the public’s fear of the defendant. In sum, the government’s ‘security problem’ turns but to be nothing but unfounded, generic speculation,” the lawyers were cited.
Tsarnaev’s defense asked US District Court Judge George O’Toole to establish strict frames for the FBI agents during attorney’s appointments with the accused bomber. Earlier on April 16, O’Toole ruled that prosecutors should set reasonable conditions for Tsarnaev’s meetings with his lawyers and family members.
According to the defense, more confidentiality is needed during the dates with the suspect to study his family history, which can save Tsarnaev from the death sentence. They plan to prove that Dzhokhar, who is now 20, was too young at the time of the bombings and fell under the influence of his older brother Tamerlan, who was six years older and had radical views.
Tsarnaev is currently being held at the federal prison at Fort Devens in Ayer. His trial is set for November 3.
Three people were killed and over 260 wounded after two bombs went off near the finish line of the prestigious Boston Marathon on April 15 last year. The Tsarnaev brothers were identified as suspects in the blasts. Tamerlan Tsarnaev was killed in a gunfight with police in the days following the bomb attack. His younger brother, Dzhokhar, tried to flee the city, but was wounded and later arrested.
