Bombing suspects’ uncle Ruslan Tsarni: ‘They do not deserve to live on this earth’

As the hunt for 19-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev — the second suspect in the Boston Marathon Bombings — continues, one member of the terrorists’ family has spoken out against them. Ruslan Tsarni, who says he is the uncle of Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev, had an animated discussion with reporters on Friday morning.

“He deserved (to die),” Tsarni said of his nephew who was shot and killed by police. “He absolutely deserved this. They do not deserve to live on this earth.”

Tsarni made it clear that he had not spoken to his nephews in months and did not have a close relationship with them. It also sounded like he does not have much of a relationship with his brother, who is the father of Dzhokhar and Tamerlan. When asked what could have influenced them to become terrorists, Tsarni said they may have been “radicalized” and were “losers” who did not like that others were able to “settle” while they weren’t. He said his brother had “little influence” over them.

“They put a shame on the Tsarnaev family,” Tsarni said. “They put a shame on the entire Chechnyan ethnicity.”

While Tsarni said Dzhokhar and Tamerlan in no way represent their family as a whole, he emphatically offered support for those who have been affected by their actions and said he asks for their forgiveness.

“Those who suffered, I’m ready to band with them,” Tsarni said. “I’m ready to kneel in front of them and ask for forgiveness in the name of the entire family.”

While it’s easy to be angry at an entire family or an entire ethnicity when a tragic event like this takes place, the uncle of the terrorist suspects reminds us how difficult it must be for those who are associated with evil — even by default.