DANBURY (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 25th August, 2018) Russian national Konstantin Yaroshenko, who is serving a 20-year prison sentence in the US state of Connecticut, has met with his wife and daughter for the first time in seven years on Friday, amid attempts by his lawyer and family to transfer his case over to Russia.
"The family has arrived this morning. It was extremely exciting," attorney Alexey Tarasov told Sputnik earlier on Friday.
Yaroshenko has asked Moscow to urge the United Nations Security Council to recognize his abduction and detention by the United States as unlawful, according to Tarasov. The defense attorney mentioned that there have been such precedents in the past, so the transfer to Russia is theoretically possible.
"This month we turned to the UN special rapporteurs on torture and arbitrary kidnappings requesting to review the case of Konstantin Yaroshenko and to recognize his detention as unlawful," Tarasov said. "Konstantin said today that he would like Russia to voice the topic of his kidnapping in the format of the UN Security Council."
However, in practice, the chances of repatriation are slim, according to Tarasov. Yaroshenko has never received a response to his letter sent to US President Donald Trump in which he asked to be transferred to serve his sentence in Russia, Yaroshenkos wife Victoria told reporters.
"He hasnt gotten any reaction, any response," Victoria said on Friday, adding that perhaps the time has come to write another letter.
Victoria noted her husbands medical condition is not good as he experiences stomach and dental problems and has lost a lot of weight. In the past, Yaroshenko said his medical issues were ignored or was not provided proper medical care.
Regarding the conditions at the prison facility in Danbury, Connecticut, Victoria said her husband "doesnt receive any threats, there are no problems."
Victoria and daughter arrived in the United States earlier this week and on Friday the family was temporarily reunited for the first time in seven years.
Victoria noted that the US Embassy in Russia issued her and her daughter a one-time entry visa to the United States, and so far there is no other opportunity for them to visit their loved one in the future.
Earlier on Friday, Russian Consulate General in New York Vice Consul Evgeniy Uspenskiy told Sputnik that the Yaroshenko family will meet nine times in the next two to three weeks and each meeting will last six hours.
Konstantin Yaroshenko was captured in Liberia in 2010 and sentenced the following year in the United States to 20 years on charges of conspiring to import drugs. In 2016, the New York Court of Appeals refused to revise Yaroshenko's sentence.
In April, the Russian Embassy in the United States voiced concerns about reports that Yaroshenko was enduring abuse in prison and called on the prison's administration to stop violating his fundamental rights.
Last June, US authorities transferred Yaroshenko from the Fort Dix prison in New Jersey to the Danbury correctional facility in Connecticut. Yaroshenko said the personnel at the Danbury prison have treated him nicely but the conditions were worse than at the Fort Dix facility. Yaroshenko complained about being in a cramped cell shared by 120 inmates, the Russian Consulate General said.
