Matanov Gets New Lawyer, New Prison

TMO 

Editor’s note:  Karin Friedemann is a TMO columnist.  Her opinions are her own.

The imprisoned Quincy, Massachusetts cabdriver from Kyrgyzstan, Khairullozhon Matanov prevailed in a motion hearing to fire his attorney on November 20, 2014. Judge Young kindly granted his request for permission to retain his former immigration attorney to represent Matanov, as he faces trial in June 2015 on charges of lying to the FBI and obstructing justice. The attorney switch went smoothly and politely between Edward Hayden, who was his court-appointed attorney, and Paul Glickman, his replacement, because Hayden agreed to step down voluntarily. Judge Young had denied an earlier request from Matanov to retain Glickman, but accepted the request upon appeal.

Glickman explained to reporters after the hearing that he was not originally appointed because he is not on the “CGA List.”

“I am on the appeals list but not the general list.”

However, pubic sympathy may have also softened the judge’s heart towards the defendant, who made headlines in October after being kicked in the head and teargassed by prison guards at the Plymouth County Correctional Facility, who played the US National Anthem repeatedly and called him “Muslim terrorist.”

“Matanov has told supporters in letters that he has been beaten by corrections officers, ridiculed and harassed, and he watched another inmate attempt suicide,” reported Milton Valencia in the Boston Globe.

“Some guards were trying to say that National Anthem of USA was not played at all, thankfully some brave inmates said indeed it was played for three times. I want the video of I am getting beat up should be released for public, so this way everybody know about their crimes. Already two more people told me about their torture and I am sure once it is gonna come out, there are a lots of people whom themselves experienced such a thing, will speak up,” wrote Matanov in his most recent letter to a supporter.

Several people wrote letters to the judge asking for mercy, which ended up in his docket. Some letters mentioned that the government asked the young immigrant to become an informant in exchange for his freedom but he refused.

Matanov was suddenly moved to Wyatt, a federal prison in Central Falls, Rhode Island, shortly before he appeared in court.

Entering the courtroom, Matanov kept his eyes downcast but did not look terrified or despairing as he had appeared in previous hearings, shortly after he was arrested by a SWAT team that came to his home. Despite having no history of violence, political activism or any criminal record, he has been kept in solitary confinement since May 2013. His hair is now longer, and he appeared somewhat unkempt, with beard stubble. He looked both tired and tired of this long ordeal. His head is likely still throbbing from the concussion, which he claims has not received adequate medical attention. Matanov wore olive green prison clothes, which were thin like hospital garments.

Judge Young began by saying to Matanov: “I don’t want a discussion of what happened between Hayden and you, or the charges against you: Why don’t you want Hayden as your attorney?”

“I have been working before with Glickman. I felt more confident while working with him,” answered Matanov.

“Mr. Matanov has been a perfect gentleman during these difficult times at prison. He has been respectful and appreciative despite the circumstances. I couldn’t do anything to alleviate his conditions,” explained Hayden humbly. He called Matanov a “star client.”

Judge Young asked Hayden why there has been no progress on this case. Hayden had not filed any motions or seemingly done much of anything to prepare for trial.

“Mr. Matanov was not a problem client. This is not a complex case. It is not difficult to get ready for this case,” said Hayden. “Because of the high notoriety of this case, I had to go to Plymouth two or three times to put out fires.”

Judge Young seemed to sympathize with the defendant. “This young man has the right to a speedy trial. I am ready to give him a prompt trial.”

Young asked Glickman, who was in attendance in the courtroom, if he would take the case. Glickman agreed. He assured the judge that he has been following the case and that there would be no delay if he were to take over the job.

“There can only be one attorney,” said Judge Young to Hayden. “I do thank you for everything you have done under these unique circumstances.”

Hayden said he did not oppose the assignment of a new lawyer.

At that point the judge allowed Matanov’s motion to withdraw his attorney. “I mean no disrespect. You have been ably defending your client.”

“The Plymouth conditions are deplorable. I think it’s fair to say that he may not have been treated well. There have been three suicides. The information the client gave is not unreasonable,” Glickman told reporters after the hearing, assuring them about how prepared he was for trial and implying the lack of any behind the scenes plea deal.

Matanov is not accused of playing any role in the April 15, 2013, Boston Marathon bombing but he had dinner with Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev the night of the bombing. He faces up to 15 years for downplaying his relationship with them, after he went to the police to identify the Tsarnaev brothers when their faces came on television.

Judge Young presided over the trial of the notorious “shoe bomber,” Richard Reid in 2003.

Khairullozhon Matanov Brutalized in Prison

“I feel unsafe in PCCF, and I have a great fear for my life,” wrote Khairullozhon Matanov, 24, in a letter to this author postmarked November 1, 2014. Matanov is awaiting trial for allegedly lying to the FBI in an effort to downplay his relationship with Tamerlan Tsarnaev, accused Boston bomber who was killed by police in April 2013.

Matanov was severely beaten by guards after flooding his cell in protest against the constant Islamophobic harassment at the Plymouth County Correctional Facility (PCCF). The incident was reported in a letter from Matanov to a friend postmarked October 24, 2014 and also by a sympathetic fellow inmate, who has since been moved to another unit. The remaining inmates taunt him in a hostile manner. 

“They harass me so much, I don’t know what to do, they couldn’t see that I was being so peaceful, now even some ignorant inmates say bad things, and when they do it, the guards play the US National Anthem, it is awful,” writes Matanov.

The US National Anthem was also blasting on the night of October 22, when seven correctional officers sprayed tear gas into his cell. Unable to breathe, Matanov tried to get some air from under the door but was sprayed in the face. After allowing them to handcuff him, he collapsed. 

“When I was like half dead not moving at all they jump on me so badly. One of them stick his finger into my right eye (it’s swollen right now full of blood). After, the same person start saying, “You [expletive] Muslim terrorist” and kick my head... I pass out from pain, then I woke up when one of them twist my hand.”

Khair reports that he heard one of them say, “We have to take him out walking.”

“They took me out... the end? No! Horror just started. They put me in that chair with the spray all over my face and hands, left me for two and half hours in one room. I was crying and asking for help with my eye (literally burning with the pain). Ruthless human beings, I thought I am about to die. Fortunately for me it was not my time. I survived with lots of pain... No justice in this place.. If they will have an argument with me, they play national anthem, by the way when they came to get me in their suits they played the national anthem of USA. It is so awful, they are pulling USA down... I could hear and now I see they really really enjoyed this awful terror which they did against me.”

A week later, Matanov wrote, “Trying to get better, after all of this pain, but my eyes and my head is still not good, I can’t see properly, and I can’t read. If I do so my head goes crazy. They did not give me good medical care, even though I was beaten nearly to death.”

A former client of Matanov’s taxi service wrote in an email, “This is unbelievable. Months ago an officer told me the FBI sent him there so he would be safe...yeah right!”

Supporters contacted a number of agencies as well as the Consulate of Kyrgyzstan. It is hoped that the Kyrgyzstan ambassador to the US will visit Matanov as he did last Ramadan, after Matanov mentioned in a letter dated July 8 that he was not given any food for four days.

This is not the first time Matanov was punished for flooding his cell in protest of being singled out for harassment. In a letter postmarked August 21, he described another incident where he was stripped naked and taken to “Q5” - a cold, rubber room usually used for suicidal prisoners. He was left there without clothes, normal food or toilet for four days. 

“Now I told this to my lawyer, guess what, it was better to tell to a wall so I could hear the echo.”

Matanov’s court appointed attorney, Edward Hayden told Boston Magazine that “the injuries did not appear as extensive as what was described in the letter... He had a black eye, he had scrapes, bruises, and that’s what I saw…some of these letters and Tweets make it seem like he was beaten to an inch of his life, and that’s not true.” This was not the first time that Matanov’s lawyer undermined his case.

Bruce Gellerman tweeted on November 6 that Matanov filed a motion to withdraw his attorney Edward Hayden. There will be a closed hearing on November 20.

The government is putting Matanov under intense pressure because they want to break his resolve to maintain his innocence. He was offered his freedom if he would become an FBI informant as he wrote on July 15. When he refused, he was then offered a shorter sentence of seven years if he would plead guilty, he wrote on July 24.

The day after the attack on Matanov, an inmate at the same prison, Marcus Czaja, 32, was found dead in his cell while on November 3, Steven Wayne Roderick, 34, died at PCCF. Both deaths were ruled suicides. 

Spy for us: Offer Refused!

Our America: Boston  http://newtrendmag.org/ntma1559.htm

Spy for us: Offer Refused! Family says Help the hungry in Syria. 
by Sis. Karin Friedemann


On Friday, July 18, a brief hearing took place in front of Judge William Young at the federal courthouse in Boston for Khairullozhon Matanov, the cab driver from Kyrgyzstan who had dinner with the Tsarnaev brothers the day after the Boston Marathon bombing in April 2013. He is accused of lying to the FBI about whether he happened to run into them at the restaurant or if he drove them there. He is also accused of deleting google searches from his computer knowing that the FBI would be visiting, even though everything he deleted was public information that provided no clues to the bombing investigation whatsoever.

Matanov's situation is an unusual case because the FBI used a drone to circle around his apartment building on numerous occasions and employed 3-4 FBI agents to follow him around wherever he went, 24 hours a day for one year. This incredible taxpayer expense resulted in not one single alarming activity being detected other than charitable wire transfers to his family overseas.

In a new development, the government seems to now be asking for 15 years under sentencing guidelines with terrorism enhancements for "destroying evidence," when in the previous hearing they were talking about 44 years.

In prison, Matanov was asked by the FBI to spy on "terrorists." He was also told that if he were to plead guilty, his sentence would be reduced to under 7 years.

A tentative trial date was set on June 8, 2015 for the young man, who is being held under 24 hour solitary confinement. The government offered this date, saying they wanted to give defense attorney Edward Hayden plenty of time to review the discovery, which Hayden said was a stack of paper about a foot high. Hayden agreed to this date "in good faith that I will need this time," while reserving the right to move the trial sooner.

This approach is polar opposite to all the other BMB related cases, where the prosecution has dumped millions of pages worth of unsearchable digital evidence upon the defense, and then insisted upon plowing forward with the proceedings despite defense cries for more time to not only review the evidence, but to figure out where the government is going with the case.

The US prosecuting attorney against Matanov is Scott Garland. Reporters asked Hayden if he thought Garland was playing games and Hayden replied he did not think so, as Garland had never played games in the past.

The defense is planning on filing another motion for release on bail, so another bail hearing is expected within a couple weeks. Hayden argued that Matanov is "in a stressful situation." Court filings which state Matanov, "whose ability to respond lucidly to questions has deteriorated because of his solitary confinement," ask the court to employ his previous attorney, Paul Glickman.

"Because Mr. Matanov is a very scared young man, thousands of miles away from his family members and facing serious criminal charges that may result in his exclusion from the United States, I believe that the trusting attorney-client relationship I have built with Mr. Matanov is critical to an adequate defense of this case," Glickman said in an affidavit filed in court. The judge refused to appoint Glickman but agreed to pay him a $2,500 consulting fee to assist Hayden.

While this is a small but pleasing improvement, two letters from Matanov received by this author have found him to be in a state of iman. His main concern is for his family. He may be a bit cranky due to fasting for Ramadan under prison constrictions. He has been feeling frustrated by inability to add people to his phone list or visitor list. He talks to his attorney and his mother overseas.

The young lady on the defense team told me he has a window looking outside. His cell is like a small room (no bars). However the prisoners are able to shout to one another through the walls.

July 22 Birthday Campaign for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev

In order to help in the SAMs case against Dzhokhar (Jahar) Tsarnaev's solitary confinement, Jahar supporters have suggested Ramadan charity actions in his name to demonstrate that the only thing Jahar "inspires" is good deeds and acts of kindness.

Jahar reportedly "had a big smile on his face" when he heard that people were doing this, but he asked that his deceased brother Tamerlan receive the award in heaven for these kind acts. Tsarnaev family members suggested donating to the hungry in Syria.

"Your kindness to others is the only gift he can receive. And the only gift he wants," writes Amber Bishop, who is spearheading the campaign.

Documentation of the beautiful deeds will be put into a humble scrapbook and given to the Tsarnaev family. If you would like to contribute to this effort please contact Amber Bishop on facebook or send an email to acbishop74@yahoo.com

"Get creative and get out there and do amazing things for people, animals, the environment, the sick, the needy, the voiceless. Make suggestions, post ideas, work in teams. Be unique so your act stands out. And feel good about what you are doing. A small act of kindness can go a long way in this world. It can start a chain reaction of good deeds. I can't wait to see what you send!" writes Amber.

Todashev Relative Offers Home to BMB Suspect

A long bail hearing for Khairullozhon Matanov, friend of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who is facing the death penalty, took place on June 4, 2014. The thin, fragile-looking 23 year old asked Judge Marianne Bowler for "voluntary incarceration" instead of requesting bail because he had nowhere to live, since he lost his job as a taxi driver on account of his arrest. This same Judge Bowler convicted Tarek Mehanna of terrorism support based on inflammatory rhetoric in April of 2010.

Upon hearing this pitiful news, Elena Teyer, the mother of the wife of Ibrahim Todashev, who was murdered by the FBI in his Florida home in May of 2013, immediately contacted Matanov's attorney Edward Hayden to offer the young man a room in her home in Georgia and volunteered to pay for his transportation there. She has never met the Tsarnaevs nor this man before, but since the murder of her son-in-law she feels strongly, "We are all family now."

In August 2013, Teyer's daughter, Todashev's wife, Reniya Manukyan traveled to Dagestan to visit Zubeidat and Anzor Tsarnaev, Jahar and Tamerlan's parents.

"We cried so much there's just no more tears left," Reniya said about the visit.

Teyer wants to testify in the Tsarnaev trial as a witness against the FBI but her letters to Jahar's attorneys go unanswered. This is despite the fact that government prosecutors added to the case against Tsarnaev a clause implicating his brother Tamerlan in a triple homicide based on an alleged confession Todashev "was about to write down" before the FBI shot him seven times.

"I saw the body. I saw the inside of the apartment where he was killed," she says.

Teyer is determined to fight for justice and for the truth to come out about this concerted government attack on Russo-Muslim immigrants to the US.

"I am recently retired from long term active duty in the US Army. I'm not like these kids [Jahar's friends]. I'm not afraid."

Khairullozhon Matanov, originally from Kyrgyzstan, probably has by now realized that he walked into a trap. When the FBI posted photographs of the Tsarnaev brothers on TV and asked the public to identify them, they already knew who the boys were and where they lived. Local police reported that the FBI already had Tamerlan's home in Cambridge under surveillance.

The FBI seems to have cast a dragnet to lure in anyone who might know the Tsarnaevs, so that they could then ensnare them into false testimony or else prosecute them; therefore creating a false public impression that the FBI had heroically disrupted a local "terror cell."

Matanov believed the Tsarnaev brothers would never have committed the bombing and presumably was hoping to clear their names when he contacted the Braintree, Massachusetts police department and offered to give them whatever information he had, which was limited to their names and addresses, because he had no information whatsoever about the brothers being involved in the bombing. A few days after it happened he had even invited them for dinner at a local restaurant, something you don't normally do if you think a person might be a dangerous criminal hiding from authorities. The police contacted the FBI, who contacted Matanov approximately 24 hours later.

Instead of thanking him for the information, the FBI then started an intense investigation on Matanov. They conducted many interviews with him over the next year or so, in addition to both overt and covert surveillance. The most obvious surveillance was reported to the media by neighbors: an unmanned aircraft circling around his home. The only surveillance FBI Agent Timothy McElroy, who was on the witness stand for the majority of Matanov's bail hearing, admitted to was what he called "bumper log surveillance" - following Matanov around in black, unmarked government vehicles, keeping him in sight at all times. Manatov was also contacted via his attorney and told to stay away from Boston's July 4 and Patriots Day celebrations, to which he complied.

The hearing focused on his money transfers overseas and the fact that he had asked a friend to dispose of some cell phones, knowing the FBI would be on their way.

The majority of the money was sent to his family but there were 15 people in 6 countries whom he wired money to that did not share his last name, some of whom he used false aliases to contact, for example he sent an undisclosed amount of money as Ali Hasan to Kamoliodin Niiazaliev. The defense argued that he operated an illegal business selling stolen cell phones overseas, and that these wire transfers had nothing to do with terrorism. The FBI testimony was deliberately vague and allowed court reporters to insinuate that the purpose of the money transfers was related to terrorism in order to create a media buzz.

Attorney Hayden told Elena Teyer that he will try to find out if Matanov could be released to her home or to that of another person in Massachusetts who volunteered their home, as well as the amount of bail. A commissary account is being opened for Matanov's needs in prison by members of the Free Jahar movement. It is hoped that once he understands that he is not alone, Matanov will stand up and fight for his rights instead of bowing his head in fear.