WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 31st May, 2021) The wife and daughter of jailed Russian national Konstantin Yaroshenko have written a letter with a request for pardon to US President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Yaroshenko's lawyer Alexey Tarasov told Sputnik.
The free-form letter was sent out from the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don, where Yaroshenko's wife lives.
"This letter is signed by his [Yaroshenko's] wife Victoria and daughter Ekaterina, addressed to the President of the United States, and a copy was also sent to Secretary of State Antony Blinken," Tarasov told Sputnik.
Yaroshenko's lawyer said that it is not a coincidence that the letter was mailed out ahead of the Geneva talks between Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"Quite naturally, there are prerequisites for this topic to be raised during the [Putin-Biden] meeting [in June]," the lawyer told Sputnik.
Yaroshenko was arrested in Liberia in May 2010 on suspicion of drug trafficking. A year later, he was extradited to the United States and sentenced to 20 years in prison for allegedly taking part in a conspiracy to smuggle a large amount of drugs into the country. Yaroshenko has denied all charges.
On December 19, 2020, Yaroshenko's legal defense filed a motion for a compassionate release on health grounds. At the time, Tarasov told Sputnik that Yaroshenko suffers from hypertension, hyperlipidemia and arthritis, which the US health authorities have characterized as severe illnesses in case an individual contracts the novel coronavirus.
Later in December, the US government expressed opposition to Yaroshenko's early release.
During the 11 years in prison, Yaroshenko has seen his wife and daughter only twice.
