RPT - Yaroshenko's Family Hopes Putin, Biden To Discuss Convict's Case - Lawyer

Sumaira FH Published June 10, 2021 | 11:10 AM

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 10th June, 2021) The family of jailed Russian national Konstantin Yaroshenko hopes that Russian and US Presidents Vladimir Putin and Joe Biden will have the chance to discuss his case during their meeting in Geneva next week, Yaroshenko's lawyer Alexey Tarasov told Sputnik.

"The family's expectation that hopefully this issue will come up for discussion when the two leaders get together in Geneva next week," Tarasov said.

Last week, Yaroshenko's wife Viktoria and daughter Yekaterina sent a letter addressed to Biden and sent to the White House and to the US Embassy in Moscow asking for a presidential pardon.

"To my knowledge, the family has not received any response from the US government," Tarasov said.

The defense also still waiting for the response from the US court to a motion for Yaroshenko's compassionate release. "The motion was filed in December of last year. It is fully briefed, but there is still no decision on that notion," the lawyer noted.

Yaroshenko served more than 11 years of his 20-years sentence, and the family cannot visit him on a regular basis, he added.

"His mother passed away several years ago without being able to see Konstantin again, and Yaroshenko was very much grieved that he could not attend the burial service for his mother," Tarasov said.

Yaroshenko was arrested in Liberia in May 2010 on suspicion of drug trafficking. A year later, he was extradited to the United States and sentenced to 20 years in prison for allegedly taking part in a conspiracy to smuggle a large amount of drugs into the country. Yaroshenko has denied all charges.

On December 19, 2020, Yaroshenko's legal defense filed a motion for a compassionate release on health grounds. At the time, Tarasov told Sputnik that Yaroshenko suffers from hypertension, hyperlipidemia and arthritis, which the US health authorities have characterized as severe illnesses in case an individual contracts the novel coronavirus.

Later in December, the US government expressed opposition to Yaroshenko's early release.