My kids were not involved, says Boston suspects’ mother in Channel 4 interview

MAKHACHKALA, DAGESTAN, RUSSIA:  The mother of the two men accused of the Boston marathon bombings denied on Monday (April 22) that her children had played any part in the attacks.

In an interview with Britain’s Channel 4 News Zubeidat Tsarnaeva said that hers sons Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev had been set up by “somebody”.

“What happened is a terrible thing. But I know that my kids have nothing to do with this. I know it. I am mother. You know, I know my kids. I know my kids. Really my kids would never get involved into anything like that,” said Tsarnaeva.

Nineteen-year-old Dzhokhar was formally charged with using a weapon of mass destruction and malicious destruction of property resulting in death at a bedside hearing on Monday in his hospital room, where he was recovering from gunshot wounds suffered in shootouts with police.

Prosecutors say he and his elder brother 26-year-old Tamerlan carried backpacks containing pressure cooker bombs that ripped through the crowd near the finish line of the world-renowned race on April 15, killing three people and wounding more than 200.

Tamerlan Tsarnaev was shot in an exchange of gunfire with police and run over by his younger brother early on Friday (April 19), police said. He later died at a hospital. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev fled on foot but was captured later that day following a massive manhunt.

Russian authorities flagged the elder Tsarnaev in 2011 as a possible Islamist radical, and some lawmakers have accused the FBI of failing to act thoroughly enough after Russia’s security services raised their concerns. The FBI questioned him in 2011.