Relatives of Marathon bombing suspects worried that older brother was corrupting younger sibling

[dkf]

A relative of the Boston Marathon bombing suspects said he repeatedly warned the 19-year-old fugitive Dzhokhar Tsarnaev about the bad influence of his older brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, who was killed overnight in a shootout with police.

A picture has begun to emerge of 26-year-old Tamerlan Tsarnaev as an aggressive, possibly radicalized immigrant who may have ensnared his younger brother Dzhokhar -- described almost universally as a smart and sweet kid -- into an act of terror that killed three people and injured more than at the finish line of the Boston Marathon on Monday.

“I used to warn Dzhokhar that Tamerlan was up to no good,” Zaur Tsarnaev, who identified himself as a 26-year-old cousin, said in a phone interview on Friday from Makhachkala. “[Tamerlan] was always getting into trouble. He was never happy, never cheering, never smiling. He used to strike his girlfriend. He hurt her a few times. He was not a nice man. I don’t like to speak about him. He caused problems for my family.”

Zaur Tsarnaev said he most recently expressed his concerns about Tamerlan -- the alleged bomber pictured in a dark hat in FBI videos released Thursday -- to Dzhokhar when Dzhokar visited last summer. He added that Dzhokhar went to mosque sometimes but he was “never an extremist.”

http://www.boston.com/metrodesk/2013/04/19/bombing-suspects-were-local-normal-immigrants/AGztkXv4Y9b6sfAsVzcDQO/story.html

[riderinthestorm]

1. So Dzokhar went to Mkhachkala last summer too??!! Its a hotbed of radical Chechen Islamism

I only knew of Tamerlan's visit but not Dzokhar.

Do we have documentation of his visit there other than this quote?

[dkf]

2. Ooh I hadn't caught that.

I haven't seen that prior. Maybe he was speaking of Tamerlan?

Father says no, only Tamerlane came.

Dzhokhar has not been in Russia since 2001. Tamerlan did come. He came to renew his passport. He stayed here and left, but did not want to go he wanted to stay here because it was hard for him to work there.

http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/04/19/updates-on-aftermath-of-boston-marathon-explosions-2/?src=twt&twt=thelede#new-york-times-interview-with-suspects-father

[riderinthestorm]

3. That's not how I read it.

"Zaur Tsarnaev said he most recently expressed his concerns about Tamerlan -- the alleged bomber pictured in a dark hat in FBI videos released Thursday -- to Dzhokhar when Dzhokar visited last summer."

[dkf]

4. Like I said I haven't seen that.

Everything I read had only the older brother going in 2012.

Then again maybe the Dad wasn't aware?