Tsarnaev-Supporting Posters Go Up in Chechnya; Donations Sought
A number of posters claiming the innocence of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the 19-year-old suspect behind the Boston Marathon bombing, have gone up in Russia in the territory of Chechnya, where he and his older brother are originally from.
"This is Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, a 19-year-old lad accused of a terrorist attack in Boston. But as many people now know, that is a groundless accusation, there is absolutely no evidence against him," reads one of the posters in Grozny, capital of Chechnya, according to BBC News.
"Now he is in a serious condition, in a prison hospital, he needs medical and legal help. Dzhokhar's parents ask you for help, to collect money for their son, whom they cannot lose, as they have already lost the older son, cruelly, unjustly. We will be grateful for any help, in the name of the Almighty do not remain indifferent."
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It was not made clear who put up the posters or if the money really would go to Tsarnaev.
Three people lost their lives while over 200 were injured in the Boston Marathon bombing in April. While Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was captured and is recovering from a neck injury, his 26-year-old brother Tamerlan Tsarnaev was shot dead after a gunfight with police.
Authorities have spoken to the frail 19-year-old, as well as the brother's mother and Tamerlan Tsarnaev's wife. While it appears that radical Islam might have been the motivation behind their suspected attacks, authorities are still investigating. The brothers had lived in America and other countries for most of their lives, despite their Chechen origin.
Police have apparently taken down the Grozny posters and are trying to figure out who posted them. Earlier ones had gone up on April 24 on the walls of underpasses in the city center.
Meanwhile, Katherine Russell Tsarnaev, the widow of Tamerlan, is reportedly still not ready to talk to investigators about the possible intentions and actions of her husband leading up to the attack on Boston.
Amato DeLuca, Katherine Russell Tsarnaev's lawyer, previously said that her client knew "nothing about [the Boston bombings] at any time" and added that the grieving family is just as shocked by the events as everyone else.
"The whole family is a mess, to put it bluntly. They're very distraught. They're upset … Their lives have been unalterably changed. They're upset because of what happened, the people that were injured, that were killed. It's an awful, terrible thing," Deluca said.
