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Tsarnaev Blamed Bad Grades On Loss Of Loved Ones In Chechnya

Three months before he bombed the Boston Marathon, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev told school officials he had been unable to concentrate on his studies because he had "lost too many" loved ones in Chechnya during the previous year.

The jury in Tsarnaev's federal death penalty trial was shown a form he filled out to explain his poor grades at the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth in 2012. Tsarnaev wrote that Russian soldiers in Chechnya "falsely accuse and abduct innocent men under false pretenses and terrorist accusations." He said he hoped to do well in school so he could "help out those in need in my country."

A school official said his appeal to restore financial aid was denied.

Three people were killed and more than 260 were injured in the 2013 bombing.

This article was originally published on March 24, 2015.

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