MOSCOW. Dec 12 (Interfax) - Israel expects the Russian court to give fair consideration to the appeal against the sentence of Israeli citizen Naama Issachar, who was convicted of drug possession and contraband.
"The entire Israeli public is monitoring the case. The two countries are holding talks on the highest political level," Israeli Charge d'Affaires a.i. in Russia Yacov Livne told Interfax on Thursday after a hearing at the Moscow Regional Court.
Livne said he was hopeful that the court would get to the bottom of the case and would take into account the long period already spent by Issachar in custody as well as her young age so that she could return home in the near future.
On Thursday, the Moscow Regional Court delayed until December 18 the hearing of the appeal against the sentence given to Israeli citizen Naama Issachar for possession and smuggling of about ten grams of hashish into Russia.
Issachar's mother and sister, as well as representatives of Israeli and U.S. consulates and embassies, came to the Moscow Regional Court hearing to support the defendant.
The defense asked the court to overrule the sentence passed down by the Khimki City Court and to acquit the Israeli woman. The defense said that the conclusions drawn by the lower court, including those concerning when and how Issachar crossed the customs border, contain significant irregularities.
"The court disregarded the fact that defendant Issachar did not cross, was not supposed to cross, did not try to cross, and did not intend to cross the customs border (customs post) of Russia (the Customs Union), did not and was not supposed to go through customs control at Sheremetyevo International Airport, did not illegally move goods across the customs border, and did not carry and therefore did not possess the drugs on the territory of Russia," the appeal said.
Lawyers drew the attention of the appeal court to the fact that baggage was checked in with the airline at the point of departure (New Delhi, India) for transport to the point of arrival (Tel Aviv, Israel) and that Issachar had no access to her baggage during her time in the Sheremetyevo transit zone, did not try to claim the baggage, and did not have an opportunity to do so.
"Obviously, the lack of intention by Issachar to illegally move drugs across the customs border of the Customs Union, i.e. to smuggle drugs and to illegally possess them on Russian territory, and the absence of such actions have been established in the case. The court's contrary conclusion and conviction contravene the circumstances established by the court," the appeal said.
Issachar, 25, who has U.S. and Israeli citizenship, was detained in the transit zone of Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport in April 2019. She was changing planes in Moscow on her way from Delhi to Tel Aviv when security services detected nine grams of hashish in her checked baggage. She admitted to possessing narcotics but dismissed the drug smuggling charges. A Russian court sentenced her to seven years and six months in a general security penitentiary.
The Israeli president and prime minister asked Russian President Vladimir Putin to pardon Issachar and send her home.
The Israeli press linked Issachar's future to what decision the Israeli Supreme Court will make in regard to the extradition of Russian citizen Alexei Burkov to the United States on suspicion of committing a cybercrime.