In January 2012, Tamerlan Tsarnaev arrived in Russia and began planning an act of terrorism, according to a cousin’s interview with FBI.

Sonya Petri, a paralegal for the federal defender’s office, took the stand Wednesday to read excerpts from the interview with Magomed Kartashov as jurors weighed evidence on whether Dzhokhar Tsarnaev should be put to death.

The June 5, 2013 interview took place in Russia, where Kartashov had been held in jail for 40 days. No information was offered to explain whether Kartashov was being held as a result of the marathon bombings. According to a May 2013 Wall Street Journal report, Kartashov is a “leader of an Islamist organization’’ called “Union of the Just.’’


Kartashov told investigators that Tamerlan’s mother is his second cousin, and that – prior to 2012 – he had last seen Tamerlan more than a decade earlier.

When he first saw Tamerlan in Russia in 2012, Kartashov said Tamerlan “asked if he had any radical connections to Islam or connections with people in the forest.’’

Kartashov told investigators he believed Tamerlan asked the same question of others.

Kartashov said Tamerlan had a skewed perspective on the situation in the region, and learned most of what he knew from Kavkac Center, a website focused on news related to Chechnya, as well as online lectures of the American al Qaida militant Anwar al-Awlaki.

Tamerlan was under the impression that “there was jihad in the streets,’’ Kartashov said. “If you looked at Tamerlan, you knew he really didn’t understand and just watched a lot of videos on the Internet.’’

“He came to Russia with the intention of fighting jihad in the forest,’’ Kartashov told investigators. “I knew what he was thinking was a dead end.’’

While in Russia, Kartashov said Tamerlan spent a significant amount of time with an individual named Rizvan Mamakaev. (Mamakaev is Tamerlan’s ex-brother-in-law, according to an October 2013 court filing.)

Kartashov said he tried to reason with Tamerlan, but that his cousin was “convinced of his way.’’ At one point, Kartashov said that Tamerlan stated: “You have convinced my head but my heart still wants to do something.’’


Kartashov became increasingly concerned as Tamerlan “talked openly about wanting to join jihad.’’ Tamerlan’s decision to pursue jihad was “not a decision he made yesterday,’’ Kartashov said.

Kartashov continued to communicate with Tamerlan once he returned to the United States. In one exchange, the older Tsarnaev brother told Kartashov about an incident with in Boston where he had become upset after the imam said, “Independence day is our holiday too.’’