MOSCOW, July 21 (RIA Novosti) - A Boston Marathon Bombings suspect’s friend Azamat Tazhayakov has been found guilty of obstructing the investigation into the deadly explosions which killed three and injured over 260 people on April 15, 2013, Reuters reported Monday.
The report said citing prosecutors that the Kazakh exchange student Tazhayakov agreed with his friend’s plan to remove a backpack with empty fireworks shells from Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s dorm room three days after the attack at the Boston Marathon.
Tazhayakov faces up to 20 years in prison and is due to be sentenced on October 16.
In late June, a lawyer to Tazhayakov, Matthew Myers said after a hearing that prosecutors offered him a deal to plead to reduced charges but he turned it down.
«He knows he’s not guilty," Myers was quoted as saying of Tazhayakov. «He's confident."
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. He faces 30 charges, half of which are punishable by death. The trial in federal court is scheduled to begin November 3.
