Mixed emotions by people in Boston as trial gets underway

World Today

The Boston Marathon bombing trial gets underway Monday as potential jurors begin arriving at federal court, where a panel of 12 will ultimately decide whether 21-year-old suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is executed.  Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is accused of creating homemade explosives with his brother, who was later killed in a police shootout. CCTV America’s Nick Harper reported from Boston with a look at why many people were approaching the trial with mixed emotions.

The 21-year old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, and other bombing suspect, his older brother Tamerlan, were the children of Chechen refugees who fled the war in their homeland.

Dzhokhar, who’s pleaded not guilty to all 30 charges against him, had many links to Boston. He lived there for most of his life.

Dzhokhar lived in a house in the Boston suburb of Cambridge. He became a U.S. citizen and skateboarded these streets listening to rap music.

Bostonian Marc Fucarile was one of 17 people who lost limbs from the blast that killed three people and wounded more than 260 others.

“Relive it. I still live it, and I live it every day,” Fucarile said when asked what was his feelings about having to relive it all in the trial.

Chinese student Lingzi Lu died in the attack. One of her friends still struggled to talk about Tsarnaev.

“We all have quite complex emotions towards this person. You have to view him as a human, but at the same time you know what he has done. It reminds me of a lot of bad things,” a friend of Lingzi Lu, Yujue Wang, said.

On the streets of Boston, many were still unsure if they’ll follow the trial.

“If it’s all over the news and everything, I’m sure it’s going to be a difficult moment for everyone,” one resident said.

“It’s going to be difficult to follow, but it’s going to be a good thing to do in my opinion. Get this over with, get this in the past, and start new,” another resident said.

“It’s going to painful of course to relive something so traumatic, but I think who could handle it better than the citizens of Boston,” some said.

The trial would not be easy for Boston. Some spoke of the cathartic effect of confronting the past. Others still found it difficult to say the defendant’s name. It’s hard to know if the trial will bring a sense of closure, or simply re-open unhealed wounds.