MOSCOW, October 25 (RAPSI) – Russia has filed a second extradition request for a Russian pilot sentenced to 20 years in jail in the United States for conspiring to smuggle drugs, a Foreign Ministry official said Friday.
Konstantin Dolgov , the Foreign Ministry's special representative for human rights, said the United States has committed to reviewing the appeal within three months.
Konstantin Yaroshenko was arrested in the west African state of Liberia in an undercover operation in May 2010 and was later flown to the United States. He pleaded innocent to drug-smuggling charges, but was convicted and sentenced in April 2011 for colluding to smuggle cocaine into the United States.
The New York Federal Court of Appeals in August rejected a motion for his retrial. The US Supreme Court has also rejected an appeal from his lawyers.
Dolgov said Friday that the Kremlin is pushing for a priority review, which would avoid a two-year wait after the initial extradition request was rejected.
