MOSCOW, March 6 (RAPSI) – Russia’s High Commissioner for Human Rights Tatiana Moskalkova is going to request the Red Cross to visit pilot Konstantin Yaroshenko convicted in the U.S. of conspiracy to smuggle cocaine. The ombudsman took such a decision after a meeting with his wife and daughter.

Moskalkova wants the Red Cross to check the pilot’s health condition and the quality of medical aid provided to the Russian. According to the ombudsman, Yaroshenko has problems with a leg, due to what he takes an intensive care course.

Moskalkova has repeatedly called on U.S. authorities to return Yaroshenko to his homeland because of his health condition.

In April 2019, the ombudsman said that U.S. President Donald Trump refused to pardon the pilot.

Konstantin Yaroshenko was arrested in Liberia on May 28, 2010 and flown to the United States soon afterwards. On September 7, 2011, he was sentenced to 20 years in prison for colluding to smuggle cocaine into the United States. He was caught after replying to an advertisement posted by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agents who claimed they were selling a cargo plane for $1.

He is serving his term in the Federal Correctional Institution in Fort Dix, New Jersey.

In May 2016, a U.S. court dismissed his appeal for retrial. Russia’s Foreign Ministry said this is evidence that Yaroshenko’s conviction was politically influenced.