Russian Ombudswoman Says To Ask US Attorney General To Release Yaroshenko On Parole

Fakhir Rizvi Published November 02, 2018 | 11:48 PM

Russian human rights commissioner Tatyana Moskalkova said Friday that next year she would ask the US attorney general to release Russian pilot Konstantin Yaroshenko on parole to serve his sentence in Russia.

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 02nd November, 2018) Russian human rights commissioner Tatyana Moskalkova said Friday that next year she would ask the US attorney general to release Russian pilot Konstantin Yaroshenko on parole to serve his sentence in Russia.

"He [Yaroshenko] had his term for release on parole reduced by three years for good behavior. Therefore, next year I will ask the US attorney general ... for his early release to serve the sentence in Russia," Moskalkova told reporters.

She added that Yaroshenko's wife and daughter had just returned from the United States, where he is currently serving his sentence.

"His wife and daughter have just returned and have told me about the meetings they had. They had six meetings, which were quite long. He says he feels very bad. I can't even describe all the subtleties regarding his state of health, as this concerns medical confidentiality and a person's private life," Moskalkova said.

Moskalokva went on to say that this was great that Yaroshenko and his relatives had finally met.

"And this is so sad that his state of health is deteriorating. He stays in a cell where there are 100 people, this is a huge room in fact. They are not taken for walks every day as the alarm system often breaks and walks are thus canceled in order to forestall escape. His nutrition is, of course, still very poor," she added.

Yaroshenko was captured in Liberia in 2010 and sentenced the following year in the United States to 20 years on charges of conspiring to import drugs. In 2016, the New York Court of Appeals refused to revise Yaroshenko's sentence. In June, Yaroshenko was transferred from the Fort Dix prison in the US state of New Jersey to the Danbury correctional facility in Connecticut.