MOSCOW, May 25 (RIA Novosti) – An affiliate of the late Boston bomber who was himself killed by US law enforcements was an aspiring athlete who took no interests in politics or radical Islam, his widow said Friday.
“We avoided talking about politics because we had nothing to do with it,” Rene Manukyan, who was married to Ibragim Todashev, told Voice of Russia radio.
Todashev, an Orlando resident, wanted to make a career in mixed martial arts and spent all of his time training for fights, said Manukyan, who added she was supporting him financially.
“He was concentrated on his fighting. He had gym, had daily training. He was physically unable to work. It was normal for me,” Manukyan said, speaking in Russian.
Todashev, 27, was shot dead Wednesday when attacking an FBI agent during questioning, according to the Boston division of the FBI, which is conducting a review of the incident.
Media claimed that Todashev confessed to participation in an unsolved 2011 triple murder that was recently linked to brothers Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev, who are also accused of organizing the Boston marathon bombings that killed three on April 15.
Todashev never mentioned the 2011 murder, Manukyan said.
Todashev and Tamerlan Tsarnayev, both ethnic Chechens, knew each other through the local Chechen community and because they used the same gym, Manukyan said.
But Todashev was not friends with Tsarnayev, who was slain by police four days after the Boston bombings, Manukyan said.
“As for religion, he never was a radical, or a fanatic follower of Islam. He observed everything, but there was no zealotry or craziness,” Manukyan said.
