MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Yaroshenko's lawyer Alexei Tarasov said late last month that the defense team has officially asked the Justice Ministry to request that the US authorities transfer him to Russia to serve out his sentence.
"The Russian Justice Ministry received a copy of Tarasov's request, from the Russian Foreign Ministry to transfer Yaroshenko to Russia. In this regard, the Justice Ministry has prepared an appeal to the competent authorities in the United States to be sent through diplomatic channels" the ministry said.
In April, the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled that arguments made to reverse Yaroshenko’s conviction lacked merit. In a March letter to Sputnik, the jailed pilot said the court ignored a lot of evidence that proved US prosecutors and drug enforcement authorities had fabricated the case against him.
