Dzhokhar Tsarnaev

Boston Marathon Bomber Sues Federal Government: Reports

The lawsuit alleges "disturbing" and "unprofessional" treatment by guards, according to reports

Photo provided by FBI via Getty Images

One of the men responsible for the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing has reportedly sued the federal government for $250,000.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 27, filed the lawsuit in federal court alleging "disturbing" and "unprofessional" treatment by guards at the supermax prison where he is held in Colorado, The Boston Herald reported.

Tsarnaev attributes harsh treatment inside the prison to his "mental and physical decline," according to the report in the Herald and another in The Boston Globe. Guards took from Tsarnaev a baseball cap and bandana that the convicted killer bought at the prison commissary, and they have limited his showers, the lawsuit states.

The Justice Department is asking the Supreme Court of the United States to review the decision to overturn Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's death sentence.

Tsarnaev and his brother Tamerlan were found responsible for planting bombs at the Boston Marathon finish line on Boylston Street in 2013. The blasts injured more than 260 people and killed three.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was also convicted of killing of an MIT police officer as the brothers tried to get away; Tamerlan died in a shootout with police, during which his brother also ran him over.

Tsarnaev was sentenced to death after being convicted of 30 charges, most of which were upheld on appeal. But last year, another appeal resulted in the death sentence being thrown out over concerns over jury selection.

The U.S. Justice Department has asked the Supreme Court to review the case. In a petition, federal prosecutors called Tsarnaev’s case “one of the most important terrorism prosecutions in our nation’s history.”

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