Convicted Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev broke his long silence at a sentencing hearing today, where he will officially be given the death penalty.
“I would like to now apologize to the victims and to the survivors,” he said, according to the Boston Globe and reporters in the courtroom. “I am sorry for the lives I have taken, for the suffering I have caused, and for the terrible damage I have done.
Tsarnaev, who was born to a Chechen Muslim family in Kyrgyzstan, noted that it is the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. “I pray to Allah to bestow his mercy on you… I pray for your relief, for your healing. For your well-being, for your health,” he said, speaking after statements from victims and their families. “I ask Allah for mercy for me and for my brother.”
At the hearing, judge George O’Toole is bound by law to follow the verdict of the jury and sentence Tsarnaev to death by execution.