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Kazakhstan|life|July 6, 2015 / 11:28 AM
Boston Marathon bombing: Azamat Tazhayakov withdraws his appeal

AKIPRESS.COM - azamat-tazhayakov-dias-kadyrbayev-dzhokhar-tsarnae Azamat Tazhayakov, a college friend of Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, has withdrawn his appeal, according to federal appeals court documents, reports Boston Globe.

In an affidavit filed late Thursday in the First US Circuit Court of Appeals, Tazhayakov said: “I have been advised of my rights with regard to my appeal by my attorney Nicholas Wooldridge. Upon due consideration, knowingly and voluntarily, I elect to withdraw the appeal.”

Also filed was a request to withdraw from the case by Wooldridge, who cited Tazhayakov’s decision to withdraw the appeal.

Tazhayakov was sentenced in June in US District Court to 3½ years in federal prison for his role in taking a backpack containing evidence from Tsarnaev’s dorm room at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth and throwing it in the trash as authorities searched for the bombers in the days after the attack on April 15, 2013.

At his sentencing, Tazhayakov, a student from Kazakhstan, fought back tears as he apologized to the people of Boston, saying he regretted his decision.

Federal prosecutors could still charge Azamat Tazhayakov under other federal laws if a judge tosses the conviction, attoneys said.

Tazhayakov was one of three college friends of Tsarnaev who were sentenced to prison. Dias Kadyrbayev was sentenced to six years for his role in removing the items from the room. Robel Phillipos, who also grew up with Tsarnaev in Cambridge, was sentenced to three years for lying about being with Tazhayakov and Kadyrbayev when they took the items.

Tsarnaev was sentenced to death last month for his role in the Marathon bombing, which killed three people and wounded 260 others. He was also convicted of murdering a Massachusetts Institute of Technology campus police officer and engaging police in a firefight in Watertown.

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