BOSTON — A college friend of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev has been convicted of impeding the investigation into the attack.

Azamat Tazhayakov was found guilty Monday of obstruction of justice and conspiracy. Prosecutors say he agreed with a friend who removed Tsarnaev’s backpack from his dorm room several days after the 2013 bombing. The backpack contained altered fireworks.

In this May 13 courtroom sketch, defendant Azamat Tazhayakov, a college friend of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, attends a hearing in federal court in Boston. The Associated Press
In this May 13 courtroom sketch, defendant Azamat Tazhayakov, a college friend of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, attends a hearing in federal court in Boston. The Associated Press
This photo released by the U.S. Attorney's Office and presented as government evidence during the trial of Azamat Tazhayakov, shows the backpack retrieved from a landfill in New Bedford, Mass., during the investigation of the Boston Marathon bombing. The Associated Press
This photo released by the U.S. Attorney's Office and presented as government evidence during the trial of Azamat Tazhayakov, shows the backpack retrieved from a landfill in New Bedford, Mass., during the investigation of the Boston Marathon bombing. The Associated Press

Tazhayakov’s lawyers argued that the other friend removed the items from the dorm room at the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth and then threw them away.

Prosecutors told the jury that both men shared in the decision to get rid of the items to protect Tsarnaev. The friend, Dias Kadyrbayev, faces a separate trial in September.

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