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Justice and closure sought as Boston Marathon bombing trial begins
21 months after the Boston Marathon bombing, the scars are deep and raw as survivors, witnesses, Americans and Chechens, from Boston and Grozny, have tried to understand the motivations of the Tsarnaev brothers. This story retraces some of the key steps leading up to the bombing, interviewing members of the Chechen émigré community and others close to the Tsarnaev family.A story emerges of a troubled family buffeted by the challenges of assimilation and by the undercurrents of war and extremism wracking their homeland. Federal prosecutors have indicated they will seek the death penalty if Dzhokhar is convicted. His defense lawyers are expected to seek leniency, arguing that Dzhokhar was an accomplice, but definitely under the sway of his older brother. Defense lawyers have also made many last-minute filings, seeking to either delay the trial or move it out of state. A filing last Monday by Tsarnaev’s chief lawyer, Judy Clarke, suggested that the defense was trying reach a deal with the prosecution: possibly a guilty plea in exchange for a life sentence. Clarke wrote, "If the government remains unwilling to relent in seeking death, and the case therefore must be tried, the defense is asking for nothing more than a trial that is fair." For Chechen refugees, who came to the New England over the past two decades, settling in the U.S. was a chance to rebuild a semblance of peace and prosperity. Tsarnaev family friend Madina Khadzhimuradova said, "Upon reaching the U.S., “for the first time in my life I felt that I, my kids, my family – that we are safe and happy here. I prayed for America every evening. Now it is all gone. I am living in fear again, just like in the old times in Chechnya. We spoke about moving somewhere else, but where can we go? There is no place for Chechens on this Earth." Posted by: ryuge 2015-01-05 |
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