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Boston Bombing Suspect Pleads Not Guilty to All Charges

RIA Novosti

23:44 10/07/2013 WASHINGTON, July 10 (RIA Novosti) – Suspected Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev on Wednesday pleaded not guilty to all charges against him, including murder and using a weapon of mass destruction in connection with the deadly April 15 attack that left three people dead and more than 260 injured.

In his first public appearance since he was detained days after the twin bombing, Tsarnaev rubbed his neck and adjusted his collar as he repeated “not guilty” to each of the charges against him read by the clerk in a fifth-floor courtroom overflowing with media, police, victims and supporters of the suspect, the RAPSI legal news agency reported from the courtroom.

Magistrate Judge Marianne B. Bowler required Tsarnaev to answer each of the charges for himself, refusing to allow his attorney to respond to the charges for him. At the end of the hearing, which lasted around 10 minutes, Bowler remanded Tsarnaev to the custody of US Marshals, RAPSI reported.

Television cameras were not allowed inside the courtroom at the Joseph Moakley federal courthouse for Wednesday’s hearing.

Tsarnaev, 19, faces a 30-count indictment, including charges of killing a police officer at the campus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) as police chased him and his brother, fellow suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev, in a frantic manhunt days after the bombing.

Tamerlan Tsarnaev was killed during a shootout with police in the Boston suburb of Watertown, while Dzhokhar suffered nonfatal wounds and was apprehended on April 19.

Inside the courtroom, several Tsarnaev supporters wearing T-shirts bearing the visage of the accused terrorist were told by security officials that such T-shirts would not be allowed in the courtroom in the future, the local Boston affiliate of Fox News reported prior to the hearing.

Victims and their relatives were present in the courtroom as well Wednesday, as were members of Tsarnaev’s family, including one sister holding a baby, the Fox News affiliate reported. One of the sisters was wiping tears from her eyes shortly before the start of the hearing, the affiliate said.

Tsarnaev’s parents, who have repeatedly proclaimed their son’s innocence, were in the restive republic of Dagestan in southern Russia on Wednesday, The Associated Press reported earlier Wednesday.

Tsarnaev could face the death penalty on 17 of the 30 charges in the indictment against him.

Security officers and the international news media were swarming outside the courthouse ahead of Wednesday’s hearing, as were supporters of Tsarnaev who shouted encouragement and carried signs claiming the suspect is innocent.

A group of the slain MIT policeman’s fellow officers stood in a line across the street from the courthouse before Wednesday’s hearing to show solidarity with their fallen colleague, Sean Collier.