Russian FM again urges US authorities to observe rights of arrested

MOSCOW (Itar-Tass) - The Russian Foreign Ministry has
drew the attention of the US authorities once again to the need for
observing the rights of Russian citizens, who are under investigation in
the Untied States, or already been sentenced to prison terms for some
crimes.
Recently, this question has been raised repeatedly at US-Russian
diplomatic consultations in connection with the affairs of air pilot
Konstantin Yaroshenko and businessman Viktor Bout. One has been already
convicted in the U.S. and sentenced to ten years in prison for drug
trafficking, and the other is awaiting trial on charges of illegal arms
trafficking.
This time this subject was raised at a meeting of the Russian Foreign
Ministry's commissioner for human rights, democracy and the rule of law,
Konstantin Dolgov, and the U.S. assistant secretary of state for human
rights, democracy and industrial relations, Michael Posner. According to
the Russian Foreign Ministry, the two men met on the sidelines of the 66th
UN General Assembly session in New York.
Attention of the American side was drawn to the "need for proper
compliance with the legal rights of Russian citizens in that country and
accused by the U.S. side of criminal offenses," said the Foreign Ministry.
The two sides also discussed "topical international issues in the
humanitarian sphere, including ways of deepening cooperation between
Russia and the United States in combating racial and ethnic
discrimination, xenophobia and other manifestations of intolerance, as
well as migration problems", the Russian Foreign Ministry said