19:30, 11 May 2015

Tsarnaev's trial completes questioning defence witnesses

Today, at the hearing of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's case, the court listened to the last witnesses for the defence, said Fatima Tlisova, a reporter for the "Voice of America", who runs a broadcast from the courtroom in her microblog on the Twitter.

According to investigators, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, a native of Chechnya, and his brother Tamerlan, who was killed during the detention, organized the terror act during the Boston Marathon in 2013. On April 8, the jury found Dzhokhar Tsarnaev guilty of all 30 charges filed against him.

In particular, as she reported, during the session a testimony to the court was presented by Helen Prizhan, a member of the Church Sisters' Order of Saint Joseph, who visited Dzhokhar Tsarnaev in his pre-trial detention. She is one of the main activists advocating abolition of death penalty in the United States. Helen has stated that "she sincerely believes in repentance" of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.

According to Fatima Tlisova, the court session also gave the floor to Michel Nicollet, the chief of the FBI division for special custody regime for terrorists in prisons, and John Oliver, the head of maximum-security ADX prison located in the town of Florence in ColoradoState. They spoke about Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's potential prison conditions, in case he is sentenced to life imprisonment rather than death penalty.

In his turn, Judge George O'Toole stated that the consideration of evidence in the case of the terror act in Boston is completed, wrote Fatima Tlisova.

"Now, the jurymen will decide on Tsarnaev's fate," says a message posted on the website of the CNN.

The jury may start discussing the verdict to Tsarnaev in the midweek, adds the Associated Press.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.