MOSCOW, June 18 (RAPSI) – Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s friend and associate Khairullozhon Matanov faces a sentence of several years in prison for misleading FBI agents about his contacts to Tsarnaev brothers, Associated Press reported on Thursday.
Matanov pleaded guilty in March to misinforming authorities of his contact with the Tsarnaevs that happened shortly after Boston Marathon bombings. According to Associated Press, Matanov had a dinner with bombers several hours after the attack.
He is expected to spend 2,5 years in prison.
On the afternoon of April 15, 2013, 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.
Tsarnaev was arrested following a dramatic manhunt during which his brother and co-suspect Tamerlan was killed, as was MIT Police Officer Sean Collier. Tsarnaev was charged on April 21 with the use of a weapon of mass destruction and malicious destruction of property resulting in death.
Tsarnaev was found guilty on all charges on April 8, 2015 and was sentenced to death on May 15.