His words: “I would like to now apologize to the victims, to the survivors,” he told a Boston court shortly before being formally sentenced to death for the bombing. “I want to ask forgiveness of Allah and his creation.”
He added: “I am sorry for the lives I have taken, for the suffering that I have caused you, for the damage I have done – irreparable damage.
“In case there is any doubt, I am guilty of this attack, along with my brother,” Tsarnaev said, standing at the defense table, referring to his older brother Tamerlan, killed during the manhunt following the bombing.
To the victims attending the hearing at the US district court, he said: “I pray for your relief, for your healing.”
Tsarnaev’s voice occasionally faltered as he spoke, and he left meaningful pauses after each apology to the victims of the 2013 bombing and manhunt, which left four dead and more than 260 injured.
He also thanked nearly everyone who had been involved in the trial: his attorneys, his family, everyone who testified “with dignity” about their “unbearable” hardships.
He also touched on the accusation that he showed no remorse during the trial, saying: “I learned [victims’] stories, their names” and that he learned “more faces” with every hearing.
His attorney, Judy Clarke, also mentioned the accusations of lacking remorse, saying her client had offered to resolve the case without trial in 2014.
Quoting the Prophet Muhammad, Tsarnaev said that there would be no mercy for those who showed none.
Judge George O’Toole invoked Shakespeare to Tsarnaev: “When your name is mentioned it will be the evil that is remembered.”
Tsarnaev’s statement came after an emotional morning of testimony during which survivors and family members of those who died in the 2013 attack faced the bomber and made a series of defiant and moving speeches to the court.
