Russian Ombudsman to Ask US Ambassador About Appeals on Yaroshenko, Bout

Russian pilot Konstantin Yaroshenko and businessman Viktor Bout who are serving prison sentences in the United States have long struggled to be extradited to their homeland.

SOCHI (Sputnik) – Russian Commissioner for Human Rights Tatiana Moskalkova on Friday announced plans to ask new US Ambassador to Russia Jon Huntsman “regarding my appeal to the US president [regarding these cases] are met with lacking answers stating that 'your appeal is being processed.' Today, the new US ambassador assumed office,… and I will have an opportunity to contact him to get more specific information."

In May, Moskalkova appealed to Trump to pardon Yaroshenko. On July 7, Yaroshenko himself wrote a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin asking him to discuss his extradition at a meeting with Trump. The pilot also had written a letter to Trump, in which he pleaded with the president to transfer him to Russia, while his family had appealed to the US leader for his pardon.

READ MORE: Viktor Bout Deprived of Phone Calls, 15 Days Added to Term for Interview With RT

Yaroshenko was given 20 years in prison in 2011 on allegations of conspiring to import more than $100 million worth of cocaine into the United States. He was captured in Liberia in 2010 and turned over to the United States, prompting protests from Russia. Russian diplomats claim that during his arrest, the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations of 1963 was violated. He is serving his prison term in Fort Dix in the US State of New Jersey.

#Lukashevich: We condemn illegal detentions by #US of Russian citizens – Konstantin Yaroshenko, Viktor Bout, Roman Seleznyov and others

— Russian Mission OSCE (@RF_OSCE) 28 сентября 2017 г.

Bout was arrested in Bangkok in 2008 in a joint operation between Thai and US authorities on charges of conspiring to kill US nationals by allegedly agreeing to supply Colombian rebels with weapons. In 2010, he was extradited to the United States where he was sentenced to 25 years in prison.

Since thean Booth appealed to the Manhattan District Court for a review of the case in connection with "newly discovered circumstances." In May 2016, Shira Sheindlin, the judge who sentenced Bout, named her own sentence to Viktor Bout "excessive and inadequate." However