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The family fled Dagestan, which neighbors Chechnya in southern Russia, for Kyrgyzstan in the early ’90s. The parents, along with Dzhokhar, applied for refugee status in the U.S. in 2002. They were able to bring the rest of the family to the U.S. in 2003.

Tamerlan was an amateur boxer listed as a competitor in a National Golden Gloves competition in 2009. He was featured in an online photo essay about his boxing ambitions.

“If he wins enough fights… Tamerlan says he could be selected for the U.S. Olympic team and be naturalized American,” the essay reads. “Unless his native Chechnya becomes independent, Tamerlan says he would rather compete for the United States than for Russia.”

According to the website spotcrime.com, Tamerlan was arrested for domestic violence in July 2009, after assaulting his girlfriend.

Maret said her nephews were both smart and athletic, and their father was disappointed when Tamerlan dropped out of university.

“Growing up, within the family, everything was perfect because Anzor [the father] is a very loving, softhearted father,” she said.

Maret, who is studying to practice law in Canada, said she had a message for Dzhokhar: “If you did it, you did it for some purpose. Explain yourself.”

The suspect’s uncle condemnd the alleged actions of his nephews.

“Of course we’re ashamed. They are the children of my brother,” Ruslan Tsarni told reporters in Montgomery Village, Maryland. “[We share] grief with the real victims here, those who have been murdered. Those who have been injured.”

Tsarni said he has not seen his brother or his nephews, who are ethnic Chechens, in many years. When asked what could have motivated the alleged crime, he angrily called the two men “losers” who couldn’t successfully “settle themselves” in the U.S.

With files fromThe Associated Press