Tazhayakov's lawyers start their own investigation in Boston

    Lawyers of Azamat Tazhayakov, one of the two Kazakhstani students apprehended after the Boston bombing, have postponed his hearing scheduled for May 14 and initiated their own investigation, the student's attorney Arkadiy Bukh told RIA Novosti, reported Tengrinews.kz.
    “The hearings were postponed upon our request for an unspecified period of time. We want to understand what proof the prosecutors have. Right now, the accusations look quite blurry. Such quickly-initiated cases and fast arrests usually do not show solid proof in court,” Bukh said.
    He noted the defendants have cast doubt on prosecutors' statements that the suspects had conspired to eliminate evidence in the Boston bombings case. The lawyer confirmed Tazhayakov had cooperated with the investigators and gave testimony.
    “He denies completely that he agreed to eliminate the evidence. The FBI agent states in his report that my client has allegedly agreed to destroy certain things. I did not see how exactly how he agreed to that: whether by nodding, silent consent or the prosecutors just felt so,” Bukh said.
    Testimonies of key witnesses -- Dzhokhar Tsarnayev's roommate and a girlfriend of one of the arrested students, who were with Tazhayakov and Dias Kadyrbayev during the alleged “elimination of evidence” -- will be important for the Kazakh students. The lawyer did not give their names, but said that the girlfriend was also from Kazakhstan, according to CA-News
    “We hired a former FBI agent for our own investigation,” Bukh said, noting the student's defense team includes six people. The attorney also said he met Azamat's family and believed he had nothing to do with the bombing. “This family is not religious and there are no jihad motifs,” he said, CA-News writes.