On 15 April 2013, around 23,000 participants line up at the start line of the “Boston Marathon” in the USA.
What they don’t yet know is that the race will end fatally.
Hidden in rucksacks, two homemade bombs are placed at the finish line of the marathon.
Thousands follow the race along the sidelines. Many of them have a sister or a mother they look up to.
Around 2:45 p.m., about two hours after the first man crosses the finish line, there is a bang.
Many of the wounded had their body parts blown off in the explosions, which eventually claimed three lives and injured more than 260.
VICTIMS: It was Krystle Campbell (29), Lu Lingzi (23) and Martin Richard (8) who died in the attack on Boston in 2013. Photo: The police
Krystle Campbell (29), Lu Lingzi (23) and Martin Richard (8) died as a result of the terrorist attack.
On the run
Four days after the bombs in Boston go off, the then 19-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is arrested by the police after being on the run with his older brother since April 15, writes AP.
His brother Tamerlan, who also took part in the terrorist attack, was killed in a shootout with the police earlier that day.
Investigators in the case believe the brothers were motivated by extremist Islamic beliefs. The brothers planned and carried out the bombing on their own, and were not affiliated with terrorist organisations.
STANDING BEHIND: It was the brothers Tamerlan (left) and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev (29) who faced the terror in Boston in 2013. The latter has been waiting for the death penalty since 2015. Now the sentence can be overturned again. Photo: The police:
In January 2015, Dzhokhar is found guilty on 30 counts. He is also sentenced to death. Since then, the case has been repeatedly appealed. Dzhokhar is still alive.
Can escape the death penalty
Just months after the Supreme Court reinstated Dzhokhar’s death sentence, the terrorist’s lawyers are now working to have it removed once again.
Dzhokhar’s defenders have claimed in a hearing on Tuesday that several of the jurors in the case must have acted fraudulently.
Among other things, one of them is said to have shared a post on Twitter where the terror convict was described as “rubbish”.
The jurors were allowed to participate in the case despite the allegations. Dzhokhar’s defenders believe that is wrong.
The defenders have argued throughout that it was the brother who was the mastermind behind the attack, and that Dzhokhars must have been radicalized by him.
Several of those who survived the bombing in 2013 attended the hearing on Tuesday. One of them was Marc Fucarile, who had to have one of his legs amputated as a result of the terrorist attack.
– We follow the judges. At a certain point, we have to draw a line and say enough is enough. It is not a question of what he did, says Marc Fucarile to AP.
