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Russia resumes criminal case into pilot Yaroshenko’s abduction by US, Liberia — wife

In the spring of 2015, the Russian Investigative Committee launched a criminal case into Yaroshenko’s abduction in Liberia in 2010

Konstantin Yaroshenko Family archive/TASS

Konstantin Yaroshenko

© Family archive/TASS

ROSTOV-ON-DON, March 17. /TASS/. Russian investigators have resumed a criminal case into the 2010 abduction of Russian pilot Konstantin Yaroshenko by special services of the United States and Liberia, the pilot’s wife, Viktoria Yaroshenko, told TASS on Tuesday.

In the spring of 2015, the Russian Investigative Committee launched a criminal case into Yaroshenko’s abduction, designating as suspects 11 officers of the Drug Enforcement Administration of the US Department of Justice, four officers of the Republic of Liberia’s security service and unidentified individuals.

"This case has been resumed. A questioning was held again," the Russian pilot's wife said, adding that the case had earlier been suspended.

Viktoria Yaroshenko said she had been informed that several suspects in the case are now living in France. In that regard, Russia planned to request information about them from the French authorities and subsequently put those individuals on the international wanted list, she added.

The press service of the Rostov Region investigative department of the Russian Investigative Committee, which informed Viktoria Yaroshenko about the developments, refused to comment on the information when contacted by TASS.

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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