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Coronavirus pandemic

Pilot Yaroshenko lacks medical aid in jail despite coronavirus symptoms - spouse

The pilot’s wife said he has not been tested for COVID-19

ROSTOV-ON-DON, May 8. /TASS/. Russian pilot Konstantin Yaroshenko, who is serving his sentence in a US prison, has not been tested for COVID-19, despite the fact that he has symptoms of the new coronavirus, Yaroshenko’s wife Viktoria told TASS on Thursday.

On April 20, lawyer Alexey Tarasov told TASS that Yaroshenko "has all the symptoms associated with the coronavirus," and believes that he was infected.

"They stubbornly do not want to take Covid-19 tests from all prisoners. They are waiting for the pandemic to subside and then e they may take these tests," the pilot’s wife said.

On April 23, the administration of the penitentiary institution informed the Consulate General of the Russian Federation in New York, that it had sent Yaroshenko for a medical examination. However, according to the wife of the Russian pilot, he has not received any medical assistance yet.

Konstantin Yaroshenko was convicted in the United States on September 7, 2011 and sentenced to 20 years in prison. He pled not guilty and described his arrest as a provocation and the whole case as a frame-up. Yaroshenko was brought to the United States from Liberia, where he was arrested on May 28, 2010. Agents of the US Drug Enforcement Administration allegedly exposed Yaroshenko’s criminal intent to transport a large batch of cocaine. The Russian authorities and the pilot’s family in Rostov-on-Don have repeatedly asked the United States for Yaroshenko’s handover to Russia.

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