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Russian diplomats demand better conditions for pilot Yaroshenko jailed in US

"We still insist that the Russian citizen should be expatriated for humanitarian reasons," the source said

© AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko

WASHINGTON, February 21. /TASS/. Russian diplomats have demanded that the US side ensured normal prison conditions for Russian pilot Konstantin Yaroshenko, serving a 20-year term in a US jail, a source in the Russian embassy in Washington told TASS on Tuesday.

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"We demanded that the US side ensured humane prison conditions for Konstantin Yaroshenko, who has serious health troubles. We still insist that the Russian citizen should be expatriated for humanitarian reasons," the source said.

According to the source, authorities of the Fort Dix federal prison in New Jersey have limited his opportunities to buy foodstuffs and medicines and banned him from walks.

The move "confirmed the US authorities reluctance to duly observe its international legal obligations" in human rights, Russian diplomats said.

Konstantin Yaroshenko was convicted in the US in September 2011 and sentenced to 20 years in prison. He pleaded innocent and described his arrest as a set-up. All charges against him were trumped up, he stated. The pilot was brought to the United States from Liberia, where he was arrested on May 28, 2010. Agents of the US Drug Enforcement Administration operating under cover allegedly exposed Yaroshenko’s criminal intention to transport a large batch of cocaine.

Russia has repeatedly requested the United States to extradite him.

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