Tsarnaev Friend's Father Suspects FBI Torture

The father of Ibragim Todashev, Tamerlan Tsarnaev's friend killed during FBI questioning this week, says he thinks authorities "tortured my son and that he suffered a painful death," he tells Reuters. Abdulbaki Todashev, who works for the mayor of Grozny, Chechnya's main city, plans to visit the US "and get to the truth." After traveling to the US in 2008, the younger Todashev was supposed to have come home today. "He shouldn't have left," his father says.

Ibragim Todashev met the Tsarnaevs during his time in the US, where he went to learn English, his father says. "Chechens have a power in their unity and interest in what happens in their homeland. It unites them. That's the reason my son became an acquaintance of the Tsarnaevs." Recently, FBI agents had been following Ibragim's movements for weeks, says a friend. Meanwhile:

• Boston locals recall Todashev via the Herald. Says a fellow mixed martial arts fighter: "His only way to resolve a lot of conflicts was violence."
• FBI agents are in Orlando investigating Todashev's death. An autopsy was set to be finished yesterday, though the results may not emerge for months amid the probe, the Sentinel reports.

(More Chechnya stories.)