Kazakhstani student Azamat Tazhayakov has been sentenced to 3.5 years in prison for obstructing the investigation into the terrorist attack in Boston, Tengrinews reports citing RIA Novosti.
Kazakhstani student Azamat Tazhayakov has been sentenced to 3.5 years in prison for obstructing the investigation into the terrorist attack in Boston, Tengrinews reports citing RIA Novosti.
Tazhayakov&rsquos father said that his son had been in jail awaiting trial for almost two years. He expressed hope that the prosecutors would agree that those two years were a sufficient punishment and allow his son to be deported back to Kazakhstan. Prosecutors however insisted that Tazhayakov had to be sentenced to four years in prison.
Two Kazakhstani students Azamat Tazhayakov and Dias Kadyrbayev were brought before a US court on charges of obstructing the investigation of the terrorist attack in Boston, which occurred in April 2013. According to the prosecution, Azamat Tazhayakov and Dias Kadyrbayev carried Dzhokhar Tsarnaev&rsquos backpack away from his dorm room after seeing Tsarnaev's photo on the news and hearing that he was suspected of committing the Boston bombings. The backpack contained a flash drive, petrolatum, pyrotechnics and a laptop.
In July 2014, the jury found Azamat Tazhayakova guilty of obstructing the investigation of the terrorist act and in conspiring for this purpose. In March 2015, the lawyers of the two Kazakhstanis managed to convince the Supreme Court that the evidence collected was not enough to charge the students with obstructing the investigation and destroying evidence.
On June 2, Dias Kadyrbayev was sentenced to six years in prison for obstruction of American justice. During trial, he admitted that he did not call the police after recognizing Tsarnaev on the photo of the suspect of the Boston marathon terrorist act. In addition, Dias Kadyrbaev admitted that he removed things from Tsarnaev&rsquos room, thereby impeding the investigation.
Writing by Dinara Urazova, editing by Tatyana Kuzmina