ROSTOV-ON-DON. Oct 17 (Interfax) - Viktoria Yaroshenko, the wife of pilot Konstantin Yaroshenko, who has been sentenced to 20 years in prison in the U.S., has asked Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to assist in the provision of state support to her husband.
"I am asking you for state protection and support. I am asking you to give the necessary instructions for the deportation of my husband Konstantin Yaroshenko to the Russian Federation, where he can get a fair trial and where his human rights will be observed and procedural guarantees will be provided to him," Viktoria Yaroshenko said in her address to Putin, which has been obtained by Interfax.
The document states that Konstantin Yaroshenko was not able to get effective defense in the U.S. because he does not know the U.S. criminal procedure legislation and has a very poor command of English.
"He was not provided with a lawyer or an interpreter and his rights were not explained to him. In the period between May 28, 2010 and June 1, 2010, he was illegally detained, was kept without water and food, and was subjected to moral and physical pressure," Viktoria Yaroshenko said.
Viktoria Yaroshenko recalled that Yaroshenko was convicted by the jury and sentenced to 20 years in prison in New York in April 2011.
Viktoria Yaroshenko says the charges brought against her husband do not lead top legal proceedings under the Russian legislation and the legislation of the European countries. "My husband has never been to America and had no visa for it," she said in her address.
Viktoria Yaroshenko says that from the first days of her husband's arrest, the U.S. special services have expressed an interest in her husband as a potential witness and tried to get him to testify against Viktor Bout, who was arrested in Thailand and was then extradited to the U.S., where he received a lengthy prison sentence.