Tsarnaev Sister Charged: Government Hiding Key Info

Bella Tsarnaeva appears in a New Jersey court to face drug possession and distribution charges.

The story of the Tsarnaev brothers, Tamerlan and Dzhokhar, the alleged Boston bombers, is becoming increasingly complex. On September 16, their stunningly lovely sister, Bella Tsarnaeva appeared in Superior Court in Hackensack, New Jersey, charged with marijuana possession and distribution. She “was arrested in December 2012 after police responded to a domestic violence call to her Fairview home, which they said they searched after smelling marijuana,” reports Kibret Markos of North Jersey News. Bergen County prosecutors said Bella Tsarnaeva will be admitted to a pretrial intervention program, but the case was adjourned till next month while prosecutors and defense attorneys continue to work out a plea deal for her co-defendant, Ahmad Khalil. Bella “will likely be admitted into a diversionary program that could spare her a criminal record.”

Under normal circumstances, a marijuana charge like this is not very interesting news. However, the Federal government has previously tried to link the Tsarnaev family with a triple homicide in Waltham, Massachusetts, where three marijuana dealers were murdered in their own home and their bodies sprinkled with marijuana. An associate of Tamerlan Tsarnaev, Ibragim Todashev was murdered by the FBI and Boston police in Florida as they interrogated him in his home. Officials claim he was about to confess to these murders along with implicating Tamerlan, even though he was actually in Atlanta at the time of the crime. Tamerlan Tsarnaev, who was said to be involved in dealing marijuana, had frequented the house where the triple murder took place. Most likely out of fear, he did not attend the funeral, even though one of the deceased was said to be his best friend.

Two of the three murdered persons are said to be Israelis. This would point to the involvement of the Russian mafia supplying them with the marijuana. It is widely assumed that the deaths were a warning from a rival drug gang, perhaps El Salvadorians.

Do the Tsarnaevs have links to organized crime? While it appears that while the US government has scant evidence that they were actually guilty of the Boston bombing, there seems to be some politics going on behind the scenes. Why would the FBI murder one Chechen man who barely knew the Tsarnaevs, on mere suspicion that he was linked to a drug distribution ring, while not pursuing any type of investigation or prosecution of Bella Tsarnaev, who was actually busted for dealing drugs?

It has been reported that the Tsarnaevs had close ties with the FBI. Their mother, Zubeida Tsarnaeva told reporters that the two brothers spoke with the FBI two days after the bombing on the phone, and that the FBI had been closely monitoring them and meeting with them periodically for some years. Other reports claim that their uncle worked for the CIA. The Russian government contacted the FBI and CIA for a background check on Tamerlan, when he applied for a visa to visit Russia.

With all this governmental investigating going on, it is curious that Bella is not being connected to any of the issues facing her brothers. She is essentially being dismissed. Probably she is a harmless pot smoker but if the US is not going after her to the full extent of their power, like they did with her brothers, it does make one wonder, what exactly is the US government’s relationship with the Russian mafia?

Did the Boston bombing or its prosecutorial aftermath have anything to do with tensions between Russia and the US regarding Syria? Did the government need a Russian fall guy to justify some political actions? Russia has been protecting Syria from a possible US bombing campaign, while Syria protects Hizbollah’s vast marijuana and opium fields on the Syria-Lebanon border, rumored to be much bigger than anything in Afghanistan that is controlled by the CIA. This month, the US shrank back from attacking Assad but instead, sent troops to this Lebanon border area, reports the BBC. In any case, there seem to be a lot of dimensions to this case that are not being openly discussed.

On September 23, 2013, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s defense team, Timothy Watkins, Judy Clarke and Miriam Conrad spoke to Judge A. O’Toole Jr. about wanting more time to prepare their defense. Unfortunately, the status hearing turned into a debate over the death penalty without focusing on first establishing the guilt of the suspect. The death penalty is not allowed in Massachusetts, but because the trial is taking place in federal court, the death penalty is an option.

Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley will decide whether to recommend the death penalty for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev by or before October 31. Eric Holder has ultimate say regarding the death penalty against Tsarnaev. He’s expected to make his decision by January 31.

Could the government have completely made everything up?

Defense attorney Judy Clarke told the court she was concerned that the prosecutors planned to decide whether to seek execution before the defense had finished reviewing the evidence.

“It’s pretty stunning to say they can make a decision based on what they know without any defense input,” Clarke said. “They may have an erroneous story.”

Clarke told U.S. District Judge George A. O’Toole Jr. in Boston that prosecutors did not furnish the defense with key evidence including grand jury testimony by Tsarnaev’s relatives. She said the prosecution had not presented the defense with all of the evidence it plans to use in the case, making it difficult for the defense to create a solid argument against the death penalty.

“We would like to know if they have accurate information,” Clarke said.

“We do plan to deliver to the government, hopefully by the end of the business day today, a detailed discovery request letter,” defense attorney Miriam Conrad said. “But, that is not going to be the end all be all in the discovery requests for this case.”

Tsarnaev’s defense team believes the government is withholding evidence that might help their client.

The case for the prosecution so far seems to be based solely on spurious claims that the brothers were inspired by al-Qaeda publications and that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev allegedly wrote a confession message on the wall of a boat, that justified the bombings as payback for U.S. military action in Muslim countries.

In 2011, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev wrote an English assignment while attending UMass Dartmouth about the West Memphis Three, who many believe were wrongly accused.

“In this case it would have been hard to protect or defend these young boys if the whole town exclaimed in happiness at the arrest. Also, to go against the authorities isn’t the easiest thing to do. Don’t get me wrong though, I am appalled at the situation but I think that the town was scared and desperate to blame someone. It’s because of stories like this and such occurrences that make a positive change in this world. I’m pretty sure there won’t be anymore similar tales like this. In any case, if they do, people won’t stand quiet, I hope.”

“Tragedy Made us a Family”: Todashev widow visits Tsarnaevs in Dagestan

Reni Todashev and Zubeidat Tsarnaev comfort each other in Makhachkala, Dagestan

Zubeidat and Anzor Tsarnaev’s lives were changed forever April 19, 2013 when they learned their eldest son Tamerlan was killed by Boston police and their younger son Dhzokhar (also called Jahar) was severely wounded and in prison, accused of bombing the Boston marathon.

Reni Todashev’s life was changed forever on May 22, when she heard the news that her husband Ibragim had been killed by the FBI during a related interrogation in their Orlando, Florida home.

Ibragim Todashev and Tamerlan Tsarnaev only knew each other from the gym and were not close friends, but Reni travelled to Dagestan on July 31 to visit the Tsarnaevs after burying her love in Chechnya. They had never met before. The Muslim Observer asked Reni what made her decide to visit.

“Tragedy made us a family and, just like I felt that I wanted to be in the courtroom – same here,” she replied. “We cried so much there’s just no more tears left.” She described the Tsarnaevs as a “thoughtful, blessed, loving each other couple.”

“We just prayed for Jahar, and for our boys who were killed by the FBI. [Zubeidat] is a very strong woman and I have learned from her a lot. I am strong but she gave me more power to fight. She’s my family as well. That tragedy connected us. She lives with her husband Anzor. I love them as my parents. That pain they have no one can feel. That pain in their hearts and eyes only Allah knows. They lost one son and another kid in jail for no reason. Worst part no one can do anything but wait. Time is killing,” said Reni, who was working in Atlanta, Georgia at the time of her husband’s murder.

Ibragim came to the US to study. In Russia he was an English translator. He met Reni through a mutual friend in May of 2010, and they got married in Boston in July of 2010.

“We had always dreamed to go home together and we did but in different sections of the plane,” Reni replied sadly. “I was the passenger, he was the baggage.”

“I had problems with shipping the body,” Reni told TMO. “Delta company refused to take my husband’s body. They say it’s a business decision, they can’t jeopardize their reputation. I still found a company who took my husband’s body.”

“At the airport they have marked me when I was getting my boarding pass. Then they took me to search me… of course didn’t find anything. Of course I’m a Muslim widow – too dangerous.”
Todashev’s June 20 funeral was “pretty big,” she said.

Reni’s sister Yana Manukyan told supporters, “Our mom (Ibragim’s mother in law) works for the US Army. She has health problems, she had a  few surgeries and no longer can work for the Army due to her health condition. She has already completed all the documents for quitting the Army, she has few months left before she stops serving. The FBI froze her files her files and is trying to cancel the process, they have cancelled her benefits. FBI is now doing everything to our family to stop us to live a life. They want us to stop Ibragim’s investigation. FBI doesn’t want us to continue fighting to find out the truth of what happened. They want us to forget what happened by shutting down our family with problems. And they think that they will make us to forget what they have done to Ibra. Why is FBI messing with our family? They are making it more obvious they are guilty of murder. This has to stop. They have to give us the autopsy report… they have to give us the money they took from his house… they have to give back the personal stuff that belongs to Reni and Ibragim.”

The FBI took many things from their home: thousands in cash, all their personal identity documents, personal clothing, shoes, all electronics (phones, laptops, iPads), the kitchen table, a decorative sword, saying it’s evidence, “God knows evidence of What,” remarked Yana.

“I’m so not lettin that go,” Reni told TMO.

“They were following Ibragim everyday everywhere he goes, following in civilian cars,” Yana said. “No one was at the house of the murder day. Hussein Taramov came with him but they didn’t let him in. He and another local FBI agent Chris were outside of the apartment 4 hours, from 7:30pm until 11:30pm. Three Boston agents went inside with Ibragim to his house. At 11:30pm a Boston agent came out and told the local agent and Hussein that they can go. Hussein wanted to stay but they told him he can’t even wait in the parking lot.”

“We can only guess what was going on there, until there is an official investigation,” Ibragim’s father, Abdulbaki Todashev said.

The FBI claims that right before they killed him, Todashev was about to confess to an unsolved 2011 triple murder in Boston, but there were no questions raised related to this issue. Ibragim was in Atlanta at the time of the Boston murders, Reni said.

Reni said she and her mother in Savannah, Georgia were also visited by FBI agents that same evening. They were only questioned about Ibragim’s relationship with Tamerlan, who had called him a few days before his death to inquire how Ibragim was doing after knee surgery.

Photos of their home, published in Russian media, [http://kavpolit.com/eksklyuzivnye-fotografii-s-mesta-ubijstva-ibragima-todasheva/]  show blood near the front door. Ibragim was clearly trying to flee when he was killed after several hours of interrogation. His eye was badly bruised and indented, said Reni. FBI agents hit him hard with something before they shot him several times in the heart, one time in the liver and a final “kill shot” to the back of the head.

Reni told Russian Times that there were no shots to the arms or legs. The FBI was clearly trying to kill Ibragim, not to subdue him. The FBI is preventing officials from releasing the autopsy report.

Ibrahim’s father Abdulbaki Todashev called the earlier claims that Ibragim was shot attempting to attack an FBI agent “absurd,” saying four or five police and FBI officers could have easily handled such an attack without needing to kill his son, who was still limping from surgery.

Reni told Russian Times, “I think by killing Ibrahim they make it more suspicious about the bombing incident… They killed one brother Tamerlan, so they need somebody who’s alive, who can speak, so they can tell them what happened, if they was thinking Ibrahim is involved in that, but they strangely killed him, it means they were not trying to see what actually happened… He’s definitely not a witness. He didn’t know anything, but they are trying to connect him with the Boston bombing.”

Meanwhile, the surviving Tsarnaev brother, who didn’t used to practice regular prayers, fasted this Ramadan in prison. “Mama Zubi” told supporters to send him religious books: “Jahar feels better reading something about Islam! It brings his spirit up and helps him to become stronger.”