Todashev's Father Blasts FBI for Murdering His Son

By Jeralyn, Section Crime in the News
Posted on Thu May 30, 2013 at 01:47:37 PM EST
Tags: Ibragim Todashev (all tags)

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Abdulbaki Todashev, the father of Ibragim Todashev, is demanding an investigation into his son's shooting death by the FBI. Holding a picture of his dead son that shows his autopsy scars, he accuses the FBI of murder.

“I want justice. I want an investigation,” he said at a Moscow news conference. “They come to your house like bandits, and they shoot you.”

It now appears his son was unarmed when agents and or cops blasted him with 7 bullets (six shots to the body and a “control” shot to the back of the head.) Of course, other unnamed officials continue to say he had a weapon. The disparity alone this long after the shooting shows something is askew. They can't even get their stories straight.[More...]

It was an “extrajudicial execution,” said Zaurbek Sadakhanov, a Chechen lawyer who also was present. “Why was he interrogated three times without a lawyer? Why no recording? Why seven shots? And why should I believe their version? Why do American policemen believe they can do whatever they want?”

Abdulbaki Todashev works as the head of the administrative unit of the Grozny mayor’s office.

CAIR is also calling for an investigation.

His lawyer also had some advice for Todashev's friend Khusen Taramov who was with Todashev the night the FBI came calling.

Leave the country. “Nowadays it’s not safe to be a witness in the United States,” he said.

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Todashev's Father Blasts FBI for Murdering His Son | 16 comments (16 topical)

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How Very Lucky... (5.00 / 1) (#1)
by ScottW714 on Thu May 30, 2013 at 01:53:45 PM EST

...the FBI was to get the confession before they shot him.<snark>

It's not safe if they decided to slap the terrorist label on you or anyone you have had contact with, but that is nothing new.

It's been policy for over a decade, no rules for the 'good' guys chasing terrorizers.

FBI allowed a one-on-one (5.00 / 1) (#4)
by cboldt on Thu May 30, 2013 at 03:34:33 PM EST

There was more than one government agent there. I read that two of three of them left the room, leaving one FBI and the suspect/witness, whatever you want to call the dead guy.

No recording, it's the word of one FBI guy against the dead guy. FBI guy wins every time. The FBI agents can have inconsistencies up the ying yang between agents, and the government still comes up with a clean bill from whoever does the investigation. This isn't going anywhere in a court or any other investigation, and as far as I am concerned, it is not unheard of for the government to perform extra-judicial executions and get away with it. There is no way to prove it, and the agent(s) will never come clean.

So you're saying ... (5.00 / 1) (#5)
by Yman on Thu May 30, 2013 at 04:02:32 PM EST

... that when the one guy shoots the other guy, with no recordings and no witnesses, and it comes down to the word of the shooter versus the (non)word of the dead guy, the shooter will win "every time". With two guys alone, no witnesses to the actual critical moments of the shooting and only one left alive to explain those critical moments, there is just no way to prove what you suspect is a wrongful killing.

Interesting.


I know you can read better than that (none / 0) (#6)
by cboldt on Thu May 30, 2013 at 04:13:19 PM EST

I wrote what I wrote. It is not what you claim I wrote. Over and out. As you know, I am not able to conduct a civil exchange with you.


: Heh (5.00 / 1) (#7)
by Yman on Thu May 30, 2013 at 04:32:46 PM EST

My reading is just fine.

Nope - don't need 'em (5.00 / 1) (#13)
by Yman on Thu May 30, 2013 at 08:08:52 PM EST

While he was discussing an FBI agent, he didn't indicate whether the same would hold true in a situation involving two non-LEOs. Either way, it comes down to a question of proof when you have only the shooter's word/credibility and the victim's (non)word. There is no evidence (yet) of an "extrajudicial execution", yet he's suggesting it.

BTW - They also have anger management classes.

FBI's got some dancin' to do. (5.00 / 1) (#14)
by desertswine on Fri May 31, 2013 at 12:10:05 AM EST

: While this might not be the product of (5.00 / 1) (#19)
by msaroff on Fri May 31, 2013 at 02:46:59 PM EST

a botched entrapment (sting) operation, it is only a matter of time before some sad sacks that the FBI targets get some bomb plans off of the internet and blow people up, instead of using the FBI phony bomb.
It would explain the behavior here.
If Todashev were a paid informant, and his marks went rogue and made their own bombs, the FBI would have good reason to want him dead, because they would be the folks who conspired to bomb the Boston Marathon.

At news conference in Moscow, (none / 0) (#2)
by sarcastic unnamed one on Thu May 30, 2013 at 02:02:14 PM EST

At news conference in Moscow, Abdul-Baki Todashev showed journalists 16 photographs that he said were of his son, Ibragim, in a Florida morgue. He said his son had six gunshot wounds to his torso and one to the back of his head and the pictures were taken by his son's friend, Khusen Taramov.
It was not immediately possible to authenticate the photographs.

On Thursday, Abdul-Baki Todashev said the photos were emailed to him by Taramov, who apparently was at the morgue to identify the body.

ianacoroner but all the descriptions of a (none / 0) (#10)
by sarcastic unnamed one on Thu May 30, 2013 at 04:57:12 PM EST

forensic autopsy that I've read about include dissection of the skull and removal of the brain, after which everything is sewed back up again. The scalp is cut basically from ear to ear on the top of the back of the skull. From the pics the dad has provided, I can't see any evidence of a scalp that was cut and sewn this way. Probably there is a good explanation for this.

maybe it was before autopsy? (none / 0) (#24)
by ExcitableBoy on Sat Jun 01, 2013 at 09:43:26 AM EST

I was in a morgue looking at someone who died from a deflected bullet that went into the brain (no exit), and don't remember anything being different. It was only a few hours after the death, and the autopsy probably hadn't been done yet. Probably the same thing here.


: The pics of the body have huge zipper on the (none / 0) (#26)
by sarcastic unnamed one on Mon Jun 03, 2013 at 11:49:32 AM EST

torso were it was cut open and then sewed back up during the autopsy. iow the pics the dad is showed are post-autopsy.

a control shot to the back of the head? (none / 0) (#15)
by Mr Natural on Fri May 31, 2013 at 09:15:50 AM EST

That's the signpost up ahead--your next stop, the Twilight Zone...

... the Twilight of America's Constitution.

CBS News senior correspondent John Miller (none / 0) (#16)
by sarcastic unnamed one on Fri May 31, 2013 at 11:53:14 AM EST

CBS News senior correspondent John Miller, formerly a deputy director at the FBI, detailed the incident that will now go before the review board.
According to Miller, moments before the shooting, Todashev was "writing out on a pad a confession to his involvement in the triple murder" when the Massachusetts state trooper "noticed that Todashev was getting more and more agitated."
"Rather than alert the agent and tip off Todashev that they sensed something was about to happened, [the trooper] texted the agent and said, 'Be careful, I think this guy is becoming more agitated,'" Miller said.
"As the agent looked down at that text, that's when the table went over, Todashev came over the table and picked up apparently a metal broom handle or some object like that ... and charged the agent. The agent was knocked back, came up with his gun, fired two or three times. Todashev came back at him and he fired more times."
"The Massachusetts state trooper never even got his gun out because of the tight space and the crossfire," Miller added, "It would have been too dangerous."
Authorities have confirmed to CBS News that the FBI agent fired six times.

Questions (5.00 / 3) (#17)
by bmaz on Fri May 31, 2013 at 02:12:08 PM EST

Why would anybody believe Miller, he is a steno for the Bureau and DOJ?
Who were the "other law enforcement agents" originally described as present? FBI, HIG, state, local swat or patrol or what? Why has all discussion of them dropped off the face of the earth?
Why were they at Todashev's apartment in the middle of the night? The circumstances surrounding Todashev, and the separate statement of Tamarov, all depict an oppressive felony custodial sweating, not a friendly residential questioning. And for extended hours in the middle of the night?
If agitation is perceived, the protocol is to diffuse, not to distract the agent closest to the problem. This is pure BS.
If the interrogation was really about the Waltham homicides, why would the FBI guy instead of one of the MA cops be the sole lead on questioning?
Back to number 2 above, was HIG (which has JSOC and CIA elements) involved?
Were there any local field agents or supervisors involved, if not why not?
Where is the partial confession Todashev was allegedly signing, can it really be matched to his handwriting?

Nothing about this incident, and I mean nothing start to finish, sounds or sits right.


WSWS: The man who knew too much? (none / 0) (#18)
by Andreas on Fri May 31, 2013 at 02:24:51 PM EST

The WSWS writes:

The killing of Todashev, and the rapid disintegration of the government's official story--that he was shot after lunging at interrogators with a knife--is an extraordinary event. It casts into further doubt everything that has been said so far about the Boston Marathon bombings. ...
Was it a case of a man who knew too much? Could Tsarnaev have shared information with Todashev that compromised covert operations by US intelligence?
The involvement of US intelligence agencies both in promoting Islamist separatist forces in the former Soviet Union and utilizing such forces as proxy troops in countries like Libya and Syria is well known. Is it possible that Tamerlan Tsarnaev became involved somehow in these links?

The FBI murder of Ibragim Todashev--the man who knew too much?
By Bill Van Auken, 31 May 2013