NEW YORK, April 25. /TASS/. FCI Danbury prison administration (Connecticut, US) notified former Russian cargo pilot Konstantin Yaroshenko that his early release plea over the coronavirus pandemic was denied, Yaroshenko’s lawyer Alexey Tarasov told TASS Friday.

According to the lawyer, the prison administration handed the denial, signed by the prison director, to Yaroshenko.

The pilot’s defense sought early released of the Russian national due to the coronavirus pandemic and the fact that he has already served over half of his term. The plea, filed early April, underscored that Yaroshenko must be released due to life-threatening circumstances that emerged after the pilot was sentenced.

Tarasov said that the defense will challenge the denial in the Federal Bureau of Prisons, adding that, because the prison administration denied release to the Russian nation, "the threat for his life only get bigger."

"There is a very high risk that [Yaroshenko] contracted the disease. All symptoms he displays generally correspond to the coronavirus symptoms," the lawyer said.

Earlier, Yaroshenko told Tarasov that one of his cellmates died from the coronavirus infection. Tarasov explained that Yaroshenko’s cell can hold up to 100 prisoners.

The lawyer underscored that the ex-pilot was not tested for coronavirus yet.

On September 7, 2011, Yaroshenko was sentenced in the for 20 years in prison. He denies his guilt, considers his arrest a provocation and his case fabricated. The pilot was brought to the US from Liberia, where he was arrested on May 28, 2010. The undercover Drug Enforcement Administration officers alleged that the Russian national intended to transport a large shipment of cocaine.