MOSCOW, December 31 (RAPSI) - The father of Ibragim Todashev, a young man who was shot and killed in May during an FBI interview connected to the pending Boston Marathon bombing, has appealed to US President Barrack Obama for answers regarding his son’s death, the Boston Globe reported Monday.
The younger 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.
On May 29, the FBI’s National Press Office identified Todashev by name and outlined an action plan for its pending review of the incident: “The FBI is conducting a review of the May 22, 2013 shooting of Ibragim Todashev, 27, which occurred at Todashev’s residence… The FBI’s shooting incident review team interviews witnesses and gathers information regarding the shooting incident for presentation to a Shooting Incident Review Group (SIRG), which consists of members from the FBI and the Department of Justice. The SIRG examines all of the information and determines the reasonableness of the application of deadly force in accordance with the Department of Justice’s deadly force policy and the law.”
The elder Todashev wrote in his letter, as quoted by the Globe, “I can’t help but think that an independent medical examination is unlikely if the examiners obey the FBI’s orders.” He urged the president: “I am not asking you to share my pain, but I am asking you… to help the law and justice prevail,” according to the report.
The letter was reportedly sent to the White House earlier this month, attached to a series of photographs of the younger Todashev’s corpse. According to the Globe, the father believes that his son was tortured, claiming that his body was covered in bruises and had suffered 13 gunshot wounds.
In an interview with the Globe, Abdulbaki Todashev stated that while he understands that prosecutors may not report directly to Obama, as the “guarantor of the Constitution of the United States… He can do something,” according to Monday’s report.
