MOSCOW, August 18. /TASS/. Russia's Ombudswoman Tatyana Moskalkova has asked US Attorney General William Barr to back a request by Bogdana Osipova, a jailed Russian woman in the US, to downgrade her punishment to one not involving the deprivation of her freedom. A copy of Moskalkova’s letter was obtained by TASS.
"Guided by the principles of humanism and the value of human life I ask you, esteemed Mr. Barr, to look into the possibility of supporting Bogdana Osipova’s request for using a punishment that does not involve the deprivation of freedom," the message runs.
Moskalkova recalls that the coronavirus situation in the United States remains rather complicated and the infection has had a certain impact on penitentiaries.
"The prison where Osipova is kept at the moment was identified by you as a priority penitentiary where the number of convicts should be reduced," Moskalkova said. In her message she mentions Osipova’s health problems and a number of chronic diseases that will endanger her life if she happens to contract the novel coronavirus.
In 2019, Osipova was found guilty of abducting her own children and taking them out of the United States as well as of extortion. She was sentenced to about six years in jail and is serving the term at the federal prison in Danbury, Connecticut.
In the middle of July, Osipova asked the court to allow her to stay under house arrest in view of the pandemic and health problems. Osipova said that currently she had neither a valid US passport nor a Russian one. Also, the request stressed that she had no connections with organized crime and made no attempts to escape. As follows from the message, she is to stay in prison for about another three years.
Many COVID-19 cases have been exposed at the federal prison in Danbury. At the end of July, there were reports that the US authorities asked the court to reject Osipova’s request for serving the term under house arrest.