Russian President Vladimir Putin will be apprised of the appeal by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to commute the sentence of Naama Issachar, a 26-year-old US-Israeli woman jailed in Russian prison over possession of cannabis, his press secretary said on Monday, adding no further details.
Issachar's mother, Yaffa, met her daughter at the penitentiary on Monday.
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"I'm tired and exhausted," Issachar told her mother. "I can't anymore. I just want to get out of this prison, please."
Naama was sentenced by a Russian court to 7.5 years in prison after 9.5 grams of cannabis were found in her baggage during her layover at a Moscow airport earlier this year.
But her situation became more complicated as reports emerged that Putin requested a swap deal involving Naama and Russian hacker Alexei Borkov, who has been detained in Israel for the past four years and is wanted by the United States for suspected cyber offenses.
In August, Israel's Supreme Court ruled Borkov extraditable to the US, in spite of his request that he be extradited to Moscow rather than Washington.
Borkov was arrested at Israel's Ben-Gurion International Airport on Dec. 13, 2015, at the request of the American government.
Israeli newspaper Globes said Borkov had been indicted in 2015 by the state of Virginia for running an internet credit card scam and was arrested in December that year at the Israeli international airport where he arrived as a tourist.
"I have been held in an Israeli jail for four years now because of political games," Borkov told Israel's Channel 13 News in a telephone interview on Sunday. He also said that he had no links to the Russian government or intelligence agencies.
Netanyahu and Putin reportedly discussed the proposed prisoner exchange deal at a meeting in Sochi on Sept. 12, but Netanyahu explained that Israel could not do what Russia wanted.
"The authorities in Israel have been active regarding Issachar throughout her detention. Israel has delivered a clear message: The punishment being demanded by the Russian prosecutor is disproportionate and does not fit the nature of the offense being attributed to Issachar," a statement issued by the Prime Minister's Office on Friday read.
Netanyahu has appeared to rule out any such exchange, saying Israel's Supreme Court had approved Borkov's extradition to the United States.
Israeli and US officials would not disclose further details of Borkov's suspected crimes and his lawyer did not respond to a request for comment.
To be implemented, Borkov's extradition must be formally approved by Israel's justice minister, Amir Ohana, who on Saturday said he would decide whether to do so within days and hinted that he might weigh a rival Russian extradition request.
Such a request had been filed by Russia, Ohana told Israel's Channel 13 News, but it was "rather thin in terms of material."
"In order to decide that he is extraditable to Russia, a court needs to rule that he is extraditable. That has not yet happened," Ohana said.
On Tuesday, Israeli news site Ynet reported that Ohana was expected to okay Borkov's extradition to the US.
The US Embassy in Israel has not commented on the Borkov or Issachar case.
President Reuven Rivlin also asked Putin to pardon Issachar.
In a letter to Putin on Sunday, Rivlin said Issachar had "made a grave mistake and has admitted her crime," and asked the Russian leader for his "personal intervention to grant her an extraordinary pardon."
The letter, published on Rivlin's Twitter account, noted recent Russian help in locating the remains of Israeli soldier Zachary Baumel, killed by Syrian forces in a 1982 battle in Lebanon.
"The Jewish People and State of Israel are grateful for your sensitivity to human life," Rivlin wrote to Putin.
Today, I appealed to President Putin of Russia, as a friend of the Jewish People and of the State of Israel, regarding Naama Issachar. Although Naama has made a grave mistake and admitted it, such a long sentence could have a terrible impact on her life. @KremlinRussia_E pic.twitter.com/9NxbPC6RrP
— Reuven Rivlin (@PresidentRuvi) 13 באוקטובר 2019
Meanwhile, former Prisoner of Zion and Jewish Agency Chairman Natan Sharansky, who was imprisoned for 13 years in the former Soviet Union, criticized Russia over the current affair involving Issachar.
"This is a cynical exploitation of a civilian for extortion purposes," he told Israel Hayom. "She is a hostage of the Russian regime. Good for her keeping her spirits up. It's very important because you need all the inner fortitude possible to deal with it."
As for Issachar's disproportionate 7.5-year prison sentence, Sharansky said it was levied "to prevent the extradition of the hacker [Borkov] that Israel should extradite to America. They looked for leverage. It's obvious that they took her hostage. Russia is making an effort to build itself as a connection hub for travelers. Travelers should think twice before using connection flights from Moscow to save a few hundred dollars."
Parts of this article were originally published by i24NEWS.
