Boston Bomb Suspect Sent to Federal Medical Detention

by VOA News April 26, 2013

U.S. officials say Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev has been transferred to a federal prison medical facility from the hospital where he had been receiving treatment for injuries sustained during his capture last week.

​​The U.S. Marshals Service said Friday that Tsarnaev was moved to the Federal Medical Center Devens, a Bureau of Prisons facility on the site of Fort Devens, a decomissioned military installation in the northeastern state of Massachusetts.

A spokesman did not give details about the condition of the 19-year-old, who officials say was recovering from a neck wound. The Bureau of Prisons says the Devens facility is for detainees requiring specialized or long-term medical care.

The suspect's brother and alleged co-conspirator, 26-year-old Tamerlan Tsarnaev, died in a confrontation with police last Thursday night.

New York officials say the suspects were devising a plan to attack Times Square as they were running from authorities. New York Police Chief Ray Kelly says Dzhokhar told investigators they planned to drive to New York to set off their remaining explosives.

He said the plan fell apart when they realized the vehicle they had hijacked was running low on gas. When they stopped to refuel, the driver of the car escaped, and alerted police to their location.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the incident shows that New York, which was hit by terrorist attacks in 2001 that killed nearly 3,000 people, remains an inviting target.

'The fact is New York City remains a prime target for those who hate America and want to kill Americans,' said Bloomberg.

Meanwhile, in Russia, the parents of the Tsarnaev brothers said their sons did not carry out the Boston attack that killed three people and injured more than 250 others.

Their mother accused U.S. authorities of needlessly killing Tamerlan. In a news conference in Makhachkala, the parents - Anzor Tsarnaev and his former wife Zubeidat - said their sons were framed.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev faces a charge of using a weapon of mass destruction, which carries a possible death sentence if he is convicted.

Zubeidat Tsarnaeva angrily claimed police did not have to kill Tamerlan.

'What have you done with my son? He was alive,' she said. 'Why did they need to kill him? Why didn't they send him to, you know, Guantanamo or wherever? Why did they kill him? Why? Why did they have to kill him? They got him alive, right? He was in their hands.''

Tsarnaeva said she would not accept that her sons had planted the bombs.

Anzor Tsarnaev said he plans to return to the United States in the coming days to bury Tamerlan and hopefully see Dzhokhar.

U.S. officials are continuing to examine whether the Boston Marathon attack could have been prevented, as warning signs emerged that Tamerlan was turning toward extremism.

Senator Lindsey Graham said he believes Boston is becoming 'a case study in system failure' by U.S. intelligence agencies.

"We need to understand that Bin Laden may be dead, but the war against radical Islam is very much alive,' said Graham. 'Radical Islam is on the march and we need to up our game."

Authorities say Tamerlan Tsarnaev was placed on a U.S. counter-terrorism list in late 2011.

The officials say the CIA asked that his name be placed on the list after it was contacted by the Russian government with its concerns that he had become a radical Islamist.

Moscow also issued a similar warning on him to the FBI earlier in 2011. Officials say the agency launched an investigation, but eventually concluded he posed no threat.

U.S. lawmakers have raised concerns about information sharing between U.S. law enforcement and intelligence agencies in the aftermath of the Boston Marathon attack. Authorities will brief the full U.S. Senate on the investigation into the bombing.

Several months after he first came to the attention of U.S. federal agents, Tamerlan Tsarnaev left the U.S. in January 2012 for a six-month visit to Russia.

U.S. investigators questioned the suspects' parents in the Russian republic of Dagestan to try to determine if Tamerlan had contacts with Islamic extremists. The family is originally from Chechnya, where Muslim insurgents have for decades been engaged in a bloody conflict with Russia.