Two college friends of the surviving Boston Marathon bombing suspect pleaded not guilty Tuesday to allegations that they conspired to obstruct justice by agreeing to destroy and conceal some of their friend’s belongings as he evaded authorities.
Dias Kadyrbayev and Azamat Tazhayakov, both 19-year-old nationals of Kazakhstan who shared an apartment in New Bedford, Mass., became friends with Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the suspect, when all of them started school at the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth in 2011.
Tsarnaev is accused of setting off two bombs near the race’s finish line that killed three and wounded hundreds on April 15. He has pleaded not guilty. Authorities say he was working with his older brother, Tamerlan, who died days later during the manhunt for the suspects.
On April 18, Tsarnaev’s friends took his laptop from his dorm room, along with a backpack that had fireworks with explosive powder and a jar of petroleum jelly, federal authorities alleged in an indictment last week. They say Kadyrbayev had gotten a text from Tsarnaev suggesting that he go to his dorm room and “take what’s there.” Kadyrbayev later put the backpack with the fireworks and jelly in a trash bin outside the New Bedford apartment.
Attorneys for the two men have said their clients did not knowingly take evidence from the dorm. Both face up to 25 years in prison.
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