Boston Marathon Bomber Trial Update: Friend of Bombers Sentenced to 30 Months Behind Bars
A friend of the Boston Marathon bombers was sentenced to two and a half years in prison on Thursday for misleading investigators and obstructing the bombing investigation days after the 2013 terrorist attack.
In April, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was found guilty of 30 charges for his role in the Boston Marathon bombings on April 15, 2013 and was sentenced to death. His older brother, Tamerlan, died three days after the blasts during a shootout with police.
Khairullozhon Matanov, a friend of Tsarnaev and Tamerlan, was sentenced to 30 month behind bars, according to the U.S. Attorney's office in Massachusetts.
According to the indictment, Matanov invited and bought dinner for Tamerlan and Dzhokhar about 40 minutes after the blasts, but he did not know about the bombings.
Although he was not charged with participating in the bombings, he was charged with trying to conceal his connection to the Tsarnaev brothers by deleting his computer files and failing to tell FBI agents that he had contact with them, reports The New York Times.
The federal prosecutor's office said the Kyrgyzstan native also hid from investigators that he shared the "philosophical justification for violence" that the Tsarnaev brothers held.
Matanov pleaded guilty in March to one count of "destroying, altering, and falsifying records, documents, and tangible objects in a federal investigation, specifically information on his computer" and three counts of "making materially false, fictitious, and fraudulent statements in a federal terrorism investigation," the U.S. Attorney's office said in a statement, reports CNN.
Earlier this month, two college friends of the Boston Marathon bomber were sentenced to prison for their involvement in protecting Tsarnaev days after he and his deceased brother detonated two bombs at the marathon.
Azamat Tazhayakov, 22, was convicted last year of obstruction of justice and conspiracy for trying to cover up evidence that could have incriminated Tsarnaev. The Kazakh exchange student was then sentenced in June to 3-1/2 years in federal prison for obstructing justice for dumping Tsarnaev's backpack in a dumpster by the off-campus apartment they shared while they were attending the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth.
Robel Phillipos, who helped Tazhayakov remove the backpack from the bomber's dorm room amid a massive manhunt three days after the deadly attack, was also sentenced to three years in prison for lying to investigators about the incident.
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