Israel’s High Court of Justice has issued an interim order preventing Israel from extraditing a Russian hacker to the United States.
The extradition of Russian hacker Aleksey Burkov has been placed on hold as Israel’s High Court of Justice on Sunday issued an interim order to halt handing him over to US authorities. The petition was submitted to the court by the family of Na’ama Issachar, 26. The interim order was issued by Justice Daphne Barak-Eretz.
The case in question has become entangled with Russia’s arrest and imprisonment of an Israeli-American woman on drug-related charges.
Burkov was arrested in 2015 on an Interpol warrant, wanted by US authorities for embezzlement connected to a major credit card scheme, which allegedly earned him millions of dollars.
Burkov, an IT specialist, is now linked to Issachar, who was sentenced to 7.5 years imprisonment. Family members have rented an apartment near the prison to remain in touch with her, citing prison conditions are worsening for her by the day. Russia has made an offer to exchange the two, an offer that was made weeks ago and rejected by Israel. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has sent a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin seeking a pardon for Issachar.
Once again, Israel finds itself in the middle of a difficult situation because if it honors the US extradition request, which it plans to do, the Russians will retaliate, and Issachar will suffer.
Issachar was arrested six months ago for light drugs and sentenced to 7.5 years imprisonment. Of late, the Russian authorities have been worsening her prison conditions as Moscow appears to be using her as a negotiating pawn to prevent Israel from extraditing Burkov to the US.
(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
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One Response
This young woman was caught with illegal drugs in her possession whilst in Russia. The treatment she is receiving is undoubtedly harsh and the sentence wholly disproportionate but that does not make it right that anyone should expect that Israel’s foreign relations and international treaty obligations should be centered around a drug smuggler.