Boston Bombs: Suspects' Father Planning US Trip

By Katie Stallard, Moscow Correspondent

The father of the surviving Boston bombing suspect has said he hopes to travel to the US to help his younger son who remains in a serious condition in hospital.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, was injured in a shootout with police as he hid in a boat in a back garden before being captured.

His older brother and suspected fellow bomber Tamerlan, 26, was killed after a gun battle earlier on Friday from which Dzokhar escaped.

The younger sibling is reportedly beginning to respond in writing to questions from investigators - he is unable to speak due to a gunshot wound to the throat.

The suspects' father has insisted his sons are innocent and the attacks were orchestrated to frame them.

Speaking to Russian newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda, Anzor Tsarnaev repeated his wife's claims that his elder son was under surveillance by the FBI and accused them of staging a 'pre-planned show' to set the brothers up.

Mr Tsarnaev, who is living in the southern Russian republic of Dagestan, said he had last spoken to Tamerlan after the marathon bombings.

Anzor Tsarnaev has insisted his sons did not carry out the bombings

He said his son told him he had received a phone call informing he was a suspect, although this is disputed by the FBI.

He said: "Tamerlan told me that they suspected him. My son said it's their problem. If they suspected him, why would they speak about it openly?

"They wanted to frame Tamerlan, and Dzhokhar was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Tamerlan was taking him to school, when they started shooting at them.

"At first it was a Mercedes, now a Honda, none of this happened - it's all lies. There is not a single video confirming they were shooting the police.

"It's a set-up, a political order, a Hollywood show."

An FBI spokesman reiterated the bureau's only previous contact with Tamerlan Tsarnaev was an interview in 2011.

At that time, they were investigating a tip-off from their Russian counterparts that Tamerlan was a "follower of radical Islam" who may have been preparing to travel to Russia to join unspecified underground groups.

The FBI said it found no evidence of terrorist activity, but both of Tamerlan's parents insist he was still being watched.

Mr Tsarnaev said: "It started two years ago. They constantly kept my Tamerlan under surveillance. The FBI came and said they were taking preventative measures, so that the streets wouldn't be blown up.

"They said that they know what they eat, where they go, what they are doing.  This was a pre-planned show for the world to see."

Bombing suspects: Tamerlan (L) and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev

Mr Tsarnaev acknowledged Tamerlan had become more devout in recent years, but denied he held radical Islamist views.

He said: "Tamerlan did get religious after getting married. He went to the mosque every Friday. He prayed five times a day. He was a righteous Muslim, and could not have done what he is accused of."

Mr Tsarnaev's family lived briefly in Dagestan before moving to the United States a decade ago. The father had only recently returned there.

Tamerlan last visited Russia in January 2012, ostensibly to renew his passport, but travel records show he stayed for six months.

His father said his son, who had a wife and young child, talked about moving his family to Dagestan and had seemed reluctant to return to the US.

"He didn't want to leave, he said that he wanted to bring his family over here. He didn't like it there, although he was a famous boxer in Boston.

"Tamerlan changed jobs a few times: he delivered post, he changed tyres, he was a boxing trainer and in recent months a baby-sitter - he stayed at home with his three-year-old child.

"His wife worked. She looked after disabled people."

He said of his younger son: "Dzhokhar was an 'A-grade' student at Cambridge. He worked as a lifeguard at a pool. He had big plans: to become a doctor, to open a business, to come over here.

"He said, Dad, don't worry.  I'll finish studying and come over, I'll help you."

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