Yaroshenko says his health was ruined by torture, mistreatment in US prisons
On April 27, the Russian pilot was swapped for American student Trevor Reed
MOSCOW, April 27. /TASS/. Russian national Konstantin Yaroshenko, who was exchanged for US citizen Trevor Reed on Wednesday, has told the Rossiya-1 TV channel that his health was ruined by the torture and mistreatment he had to suffer in US prisons.
"It’s certainly not good," he said in response to a question about the state of his health. "It’s about what the US authorities were doing to me during all these 12 years after my abduction, after I was tortured. They did not treat me in the best way in American prisons," Yaroshenko added.
On Wednesday, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced that Yaroshenko had been swapped for American student Trevor Reed. According to the Russian’s lawyer Alexey Tarasov, Yaroshenko’s health leaves much to be desired but he will certainly receive the necessary medical assistance at home.
Yaroshenko was sentenced in the United States on September 7, 2011, to 20 years in prison. He denies his guilt, slamming his arrest as a provocation, and castigating the whole affair as a fabricated case. The pilot was brought to the United States from Liberia, where he was arrested on May 28, 2010. Undercover agents allegedly accused him of a "criminal conspiracy" to transport a large batch of cocaine. Moscow repeatedly asked Washington to hand Yaroshenko over to Russia but all requests were rejected.