Uncle arranging Boston bomb suspect's burial

WORCESTER, Mass. -- A Cambridge city official is urging the family of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev and the funeral director who has Tsarnaev's body not to request a burial permit in the city.

Cambridge City Manager Robert Healy said in a statement Sunday there has been no formal application for a burial permit or purchase of a cemetery plot.

Healy said it would not be in the best interest of the city to execute a deed for a plot at Cambridge Cemetery for Tsarnaev's body. He said the city would be "adversely impacted by the turmoil, protests and wide spread media presence at such an interment." He said the families who have loved ones interred there deserve to have their deceased family members rest in peace.

Funeral director Peter Stefan said he hasn't been able to find a cemetery in Massachusetts willing to take the body. He said he planned to ask Cambridge, where Tsarnaev lived, to provide a burial plot. He said he would next seek help from state officials.

Tsarnaev's uncle arrived in Massachusetts on Sunday to arrange for his burial, saying he understands that "no one wants to associate their names with such evil events."

Ruslan Tsarni of Montgomery Village, Md., and three of his friends met with the Worcester funeral director and prepared to wash and shroud Tsarnaev's body according to Muslim tradition. The 26-year-old died after a gun battle with police on April 19.

Tsarni told reporters that he is arranging for Tsarnaev's burial because religion and tradition call for his nephew to be buried. He would like him buried in Massachusetts because he's lived in the state for the last decade, he said.

"I'm dealing with logistics. A dead person must be buried," he said.

He said he was grateful to Stefan for agreeing to arrange the burial.

Stefan said he has received calls from people criticizing him and calling him "un-American" for being willing to handle the funeral.

"We take an oath to do this. Can I pick and choose? No. Can I separate the sins from the sinners? No," he said. "We are burying a dead body. That's what we do."

A half dozen protesters gathered outside the funeral home Sunday with signs and American flags and chanting "USA!" One sign read: "Do not bury him on U.S. soil." Several people drove and yelled; one man shouted, "Throw him off a boat like Osama bin Laden!"

The state medical examiner ruled that Tsarnaev died from gunshot wounds and blunt trauma to his head and torso, and authorities said his brother ran him over with a carjacked vehicle in a getaway attempt.

Stefan said on Sunday that the family won't request that an independent medical examiner perform a second autopsy, but representatives from the family's legal team might photograph Tsarnaev's body before it's washed.

Tsarni has denounced the acts his nephews are accused of committing and has said they brought shame to the family and the entire Chechen ethnicity. The brothers are ethnic Chechens from Russia who came to the United States about a decade ago with their parents. Both parents returned to Dagestan last year.

Tsarni said Sunday that he hopes to eventually see Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who is in a prison hospital and faces a potential death sentence if convicted of the terrorism plot.

"This is another person left all to himself," he said.

Also on Sunday, the FBI conducted a court-authorized search in Cambridge as part of its ongoing investigation into the bombings, said Jason Pack, a supervisory special agent in the FBI's press office. He declined to elaborate further.