WASHINGTON, August 14 (RAPSI) - Renowned Florida-based attorney Barry Cohen will head up the defense team representing Abdulbaki Todashev, whose son Ibragim Todashev was killed at the hands of FBI agents during questioning in May, Todashev's father told RIA Novosti on Wednesday.
Ibragim Todashev, 27, who had moved to the US from Russia's Chechen Republic several years earlier, was shot at his home in Orlando on May 22 while being questioned by the FBI about his links to Boston Marathon bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev and a possible connection to a 2011 triple murder in Massachusetts. Abdulbaki Todashev, Ibragim's father, says that while his son knew the Tsarnaev brothers, he was not involved in any crimes they are being accused of.
Abdulbaki Todashev says that the Florida division of Islamic advocacy group the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) helped him to retain the representation of Barry Cohen and other attorneys that will be on the defense team.
He also said that FBI agents came to see him, but there was not much of a conversation: "I wouldnt talk to them without an attorney, I had some questions for them. They did not have any for me, they just wanted to talk. I offered them a meeting at the attorney's office, but they refused. They also refused pictures of their IDs to be taken and then left."
Abdulbaki Todashev says that he is not familiar with the DOJ's investigation into his son's death. He didn't specify if or when a potential lawsuit would be filed and who will be the defendant in the matter.
Local news source The Tampa Tribune reported Tuesday that Cohen and attorney Eric Ludin will work with the Todashev family in deciding whether to file a civil lawsuit once the investigation launched by Florida State Attorney Jeffrey Lashton wraps up.
One of Tampas best-known defense attorneys, Barry Cohen's clients have included former University of South Florida football coach Jim Leavitt, who was fired by the university, and Jennifer Porter, a former school teacher who fled an accident that left two children dead.