MOSCOW, November 13 (RAPSI) - US prosecutors have postponed until the end of this week their self-imposed deadline for submitting a death penalty recommendation in the case of suspected Boston Marathon bomber Dzohkhar Tsarnaev, the Boston Globe reported Tuesday.

Initially, prosecutors had imposed upon themselves a deadline of October 31, by which point they had expected to provide US Attorney General Eric Holder with a recommendation on whether or not the death penalty should be pursued against Tsarnaev.

The Globe reported after a status conference Tuesday that prosecutors told the court that they would make a confidential recommendation to Holder before the end of this week. The judge then reportedly imposed a January 31 deadline for Holder to make a determination on whether or not the death penalty will in fact be sought.

At about 2:49pm on April 15, two explosions occurred near the finish line of the Boston Marathon. IEDs devised from pressure cookers, low explosive powder, shrapnel, adhesive, and other materials were hidden in backpacks that were then placed near metal barricades in areas packed with hundreds of spectators.

According to a related indictment, “Each explosion killed at least one person, maimed, burned and wounded scores of others, and damaged public and private property, including the streets, sidewalk, barriers, and property owned by people and businesses in the locations where the explosions occurred.”

The following four days were consumed by a dramatic and at times extremely violent manhunt for the suspects, who were identified by name on April 19 as Dzhokhar (then 19) and his brother Tamerlan Tsarnaev (26). The manhunt entailed the presence of thousands of law enforcement personnel from local, state, and federal agencies, and resulted in a veritable lockdown through parts of the greater Boston area.

Tamerlan was killed during a police shootout, and Dzhokhar was arrested on the evening of April 19 after having been discovered hiding in a dry-docked boat in the Boston suburb of Watertown.

He was then charged in a criminal complaint dated April 21 with the use of a weapon of mass destruction and malicious destruction of property resulting in death.

Then on June 27, a federal grand jury returned a 30-count indictment against Dhzokhar. The charges include the use of a weapon of mass destruction resulting in death and conspiracy and the bombing of a place of public use resulting in death and conspiracy among others.

According to an accompanying FBI press release, seventeen of these charges carry sentences of up to life imprisonment or the death penalty, and the rest carry sentences of life imprisonment or imprisonment for a fixed period.

At an arraignment hearing on July 10, Dzhokhar pleaded not guilty to all charges pending against him.