My son grew up in non-religious family: Dias Kadyrbayev's father says to Tengrinews.kz

Murat Kadyrbayev, the father of Dias Kadyrbayev -- one of the two Kazakhstan student arrested in the U.S. after the Boston bombings -- told in an interview to Tengrinews.kz news website and STV Channel that his son was raised in a non-religious family that taught him to respect all religions and confessions. Dias Kadyrbayev has been charged with obstructing justice in the Boston bombing case in the U.S. together with another Kazakhstan student Azamat Tazhayakov and U.S. citizen Robel Phillipos, the latter is charged with giving a false testimony besides the obstraction. Speaking about the attitude to religion and spiritual view of their family Murat Kadyrbayev said: “Kazakhstan is a secular country that is home to over 100 ethnic groups. In my family I teach respect to all the religions. I believe that God is one but religions and confessions are many and we should respect them all. Yesterday was a big holiday, the Orthodox Easter. We are friendly and peaceful to others and we adhere to the view that everyone should live in friendship,” Kadyrbayev said. Dias' friends in Kazakhstan also told Tengrinews.kz that Dias was not a religious person and respected beliefs of others. They said they never even discuss religions or any religious view and Dias did not study Islam or frequented a mosque. His friends described him as a kind-hearted and good-natured young man. They said he was always capable to cheering people up. “My Dad always told me that I had to make friends with those who were better than me in something and I chose Dias as one of my friends,” his former classmate Sanzhar Sandybayev said. “He is always positive and has never been under the influence of a bad company,” said Aibar Sadyrbayev who studied with Aibar since the fifth grade and considered him his best friend. Sadyrbayev called Dias a responsible person. Rustem Abdulkhairov and Baurzhan Bakytzhanov had been friends with Dias for several years before he went to study in the United States. “I can characterize him as a serious person who never gave under anyone’s influence and could always retain his own point of view on things. He had a gift for talking people out of doing things that could lead to trouble,” Abdulkhairov said. Bakytzhanov said he hoped that Dias returned to Kazakhstan and that he would be allowed to continue his studies in the United States. “But the most important is that he comes back safe and sound,” Bakytzhanov said. The friends said that they were waiting for Dias and promised to organize a warm welcome for him. Speaking about Dias’ grades and studies his father Murat Kadyrbayev told Tengrinews.kz that he always taught his son to focus on obtaining knowledge rather than on simply getting goods grades at school. “He first we to public school No. 55 in Almaty. Later he was admitted to the school's special department called Keleshek that focused on mathematics and physics. Then he went to a physics-and-mathematics school. Those were very good schools where no middle-level grades were allowed,” Kadyrbayev said. “Satisfactory grades (C) in these schools were equal to excellent grades in regular schools. This tells about his level of knowledge.” Dias’ friend Serikzhan Tolegen also said Dias was good at mathematics. “Out teacher admitted him to a math competition. He asked he to admit me as well. Dias managed to advance into the second round,” Tolegen said. Azamat Tazhayakov and Dias Kadyrbayev were arrested for alleged violation of U.S. immigration regulations on April 20. They were detained by the Immigrations and Customs Enforcement at the Suffolk County House of Corrections in Boston. But no visa regime violation charges have been presented to them so far. Instead, after the FBI started looking into Tsarnaev's connections they were found to have communicated with Dzhokhar Tsarnaev in text messages, and were presented with criminal charges of obstructing investigation by tempering with evidences. They are not suspected of being involved in the bombings or the preparations. By Alisher Akhmetov