MOSCOW, November 14 - RAPSI. Russian pilot Konstantin Yaroshenko, who has received and appealed a 20-year prison sentence in the United States, does not have money for further legal support, according to the court's records that have been made available to the Russian Legal Information Agency (RAPSI).

One of Yaroshenko's defense attorneys Steve Zissou has notified the court that his client is unable to fund the appointment of a counsel, which he requests and is entitled to.

Yaroshenko was arrested along with Nigerian Chigbo Peter Umeh in an undercover operation in May 2010 in Liberia. Both were soon extradited to the United States. Umeh was sentenced to 30 years in prison on July 28. Yaroshenko was sentenced to 20 years behind bars for attempted drugs trafficking. The sentence was appealed in September.

Two other suspects in the case were acquitted by the jury.

Yaroshenko first appeared before the court on June 1, 2010. Several months later, he retained an attorney to represent him using his mother's money. She sold the family's apartment in Russia to pay for his attorney, the court's records read.

The prosecutors maintain that Yaroshenko accepted the U.S. agents' proposal to carry four tonnes of cocaine from South America to Africa and then to the United States. He arrived to Liberia in May 2010 to discuss his fee with his Colombian partners. He was offered $4.5 million for cocaine transportation from Venezuela to Liberia and $1.8 million more for its delivery to Nigeria and Ghana, from where part of the drugs were to be taken to the United States.