IN PHOTO: Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, suspect #2 in the Boston Marathon explosion is pictured in this undated FBI handout photo.
IN PHOTO: Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, suspect #2 in the Boston Marathon explosion is pictured in this undated FBI handout photo. Police on April 19, 2013 killed one suspect in the Boston Marathon bombing during a shootout and mounted a house-to-house search for a second man in the suburb of Watertown, Massachusetts. REUTERS/FBI/Handout

The three friends of Boston Bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev were found guilty for lying to the investigators. On Friday, Azamat Tazhayakov and Robel Phillipos were sentenced to three years in prison, while Dias Kadyrbayev was sentenced to six years in prison on Tuesday.

Tazhayakov was in tears as he apologised for aiding Tsarnaev in the aftermath of the 2013 Boston bombing. He was sentenced to three and a half years in prison as he conspired to obstruct justice when he agreed with a friend to remove Tsarnaev's backpack, which contained emptied fireworks, from his dorm room at the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth, according to the U.S. attorney's office.

Tazhayakov asked forgiveness to the court. "I want to say that I don't support extremists. I don't support any Muslim radicalism. It just makes me sick what Dzhokhar did on April 15," he said.

Later Friday, CNN affiliate WCVB reports FBI found out that Phillipos lied about being in Tsarnaev's dorm room days after the bombings. The judge added Phillipos was to blame for a "substantial diversion" of law enforcement resources.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis is a friend of Phillipos' family. He and Phillipos' mother have written a letter to judge pleading for probation, not jail time. Dukakis wrote on the letter of support, "...in which people far more experienced and far more important than Robel have been guilty of the same offense or lying to the FBI."

However, Judge Douglas Woodlock replied to the letter of support stating, "he [Phillipo] has a chance to do a right thing and failed. Now it's up to you to get your life back on track."

The Boston marathon bombing happened on April 15, 2013 as the annual event started. Tsarnaev and his older brother Tamerlan Tsarnaev were the ones who built two pressure-cooker bombs, which exploded near the finish line. The bomber, Trasnaev, was sentenced to death on May 15, 2015.

For questions/comments regarding the article, you may email the writer at saraht.ibtimes@gmail.com.

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