WASHINGTON, June 13. /TASS/. The US authorities have decided to transfer Russian pilot Konstantin Yaroshenko, who was serving out a 20-year prison term at the Fort Dix federal prison, to another penitentiary facility, the Russian embassy in the US said on Facebook.
"According to the information available to the embassy, Russian citizen Konstantin Yaroshenko, wrongfully convicted in the United States to 20 years in prison, is being transferred from the Fort Dix prison in New Jersey to another penitentiary facility. He has been currently taken to a temporary detention facility in New York City," the embassy said.
The Russian embassy, "and the consulate general in New York City have been keeping an eye on the situation." "We continue to provide consular and legal assistance to him," the embassy said.
Yaroshenko’s lawyer Alexei Tarasov had earlier demanded that the pilot be removed from a solitary confinement where he had spent over a month despite his stomach issues.
Yaroshenko’s case
Yaroshenko was arrested in Liberia in May 2010, and was later secretly transferred to the United States. In April 2011, a jury found him guilty of conspiracy to smuggle a major drug shipment into the US, and sentenced him to 20 years behind bars. However, Yaroshenko pleaded not guilty, saying his arrest was a provocation and the case was fabricated.
Moscow has many times requested that Washington extradite the pilot to Russia.