Boston bombings: Suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev pleads not guilty

Washington: Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev has pleaded not guilty to all the 30 federal charges related to the 15 April attacks that killed three people and injured more than 250.

Tsarnaev, 17, who made his first public appearance yesterday in a Boston court after his arrest on 19 April, has been charged with using weapons of mass destruction, in addition to host of other charges that carries the possibility of a death penalty.

“Not guilty” Tsarnaev said in a Russian accent before the Boston court. Thereafter he pleaded not guilty repeatedly about a dozen more times.

“The maximum penalty is up to life in prison or the death penalty,” the Assistant US Attorney, William Weinreb, said in the court during the proceedings that lasted for about seven minutes.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was arrested on 19 April when he was found hiding in a boat in a suburban backyard. He was initially charged in a hospital where he was recovering from wounds suffered in a police shootout.

Tsarnaev, who wore an orange prison jumpsuit with the top unbuttoned, and a black T-shirt underneath, had a visible scar just below his throat, which was apparently because of the injuries he suffered in the police shoot out during which he was arrested.

“His hair was shaggy, consistent with the photos that were released at the time of the bombings,” Boston Globe reported.

His attorney Judy Clarke, sought to enter the pleas on his behalf, but US Magistrate Judge Marianne Bowler ordered Tsarnaev to answer himself.

Tsarnaev, a former University of Massachusetts Dartmouth student, is due back in court on 23 September.

Boston Mayor, Thomas M Meino, called for his death penalty. “We should lock him up and throw away the key,” he told The Boston Herald yesterday.

Earlier chaotic scene were witnessed outside the courtroom when Tsarnaev was brought by a Humvee filled with heavily armed law enforcement officers in a white prison van as people rushed to have a glimpse of the teenager.

Some of those present included his supporters, who shouted— “Justice for Dzhokhar” and “Give him his freedom back.”

The 15 April attack when a pair of pressure-cooker bombs near the finish line of the country’s most well-known marathon killed three people and wounded more than 250. Authorities say Tsarnaev orchestrated the attack along with his older brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, who died following a shootout with police in Watertown, three days after the bombing.

PTI