[EURONEWS] U.S. officials on Friday charged a Kyrgyzstan national who bought dinner for the accused Boston Marathon bombers the night of the attack with interfering with the investigation into the deadly bombing.Khairullozhon Matanov, a 23-year-old taxi driver who lives in Quincy, Massachusetts, appeared in court to face one criminal count of destroying records and three counts of lying to officials in a terrorism investigation.
Dressed in a white T-shirt and jeans, and unshaven, Matanov told U.S. Magistrate Judge Marianne Bowler that he understood English and did not require the assistance of an interpreter, and that he had no family in the United States.
"I am a cab driver," he said, when asked his occupation.
Prosecutors said in court papers Matanov had been friends with accused bombers Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and Tamerlan Tsarnaev, spoke with both in the days after the blast but lied to police about the extent of his relationship with the pair.
Matanov, who had hiked a New Hampshire mountain with Tamerlan Tsarnaev to "train like, and praise, the 'mujahideen,'" deleted searches related to the attacks from his computer, tried to dispose of cell phones he had used, and denied knowing much about the pair in interviews with police, prosecutors said. Mujahideen refers to Islamic guerilla fighters.
Bowler ordered him held until next Wednesday, when a hearing will take place to determine if he may be released on bail.