The father of the Boston Marathon bombing suspects has abandoned plans to travel to the United States to bury one son and help in the defence of the other, he said today in an interview in southern Russia.
Anzor Tsarnaev said he believed he would not be allowed to see his surviving son Dzohkhar, who was captured and has been charged in connection with the April 15th bomb blasts that killed three people and wounded 264.
"I am not going back to the United States. For now I am here. I am ill," Mr Tsarnaev said. He agreed to the face-to-face interview on condition that his location in the North Caucasus, a string of mainly Muslim provinces in southern Russia, not be disclosed.
“Unfortunately I can’t help my child in any way. I am in touch with Dzhokhar’s and my own lawyers. They told me they would let me know (what to do),” he said.
Mr Tsarnaev had said in the North Caucasus province of Dagestan on Thursday that he planned to travel to the United States to see Dzkhokhar and bury his elder son, Tamerlan, who was shot dead by police in a firefight four days after the bombings.
Dzkhokhar is being held in a small cell with a steel door at a US federal medical detention centre outside the city.
A federal official describes the conditions under which the 19-year-old is being held in the facility after being moved there from hospital.
Federal Medical Centre Devens spokesman John Collauti said he is in secure housing where authorities can monitor him.
His cell has a solid steel door with an observation window and a slot for passing food and medication.
Mr Collauti would not discuss specific details related to Dzkhokhar but said normally medical workers monitor the inmates. He said guards keep an eye on some cells with video cameras.
Dzkhokhar Tsarnaev's mother has said the bombing allegations against him are untrue. He was transferred from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston to a locked medical facility for male prisoners at Fort Devens, about 40 miles west the cityon Friday.
Tsarnaev, who was involved in a shootout with police after the April 15th bombing, has possible gunshot wounds to the “head, neck, legs and hand,” according to court records. He has been charged with using a weapon of mass destruction, and if convicted at trial, faces the death penalty or life in prison.
Agencies