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Convicted Israeli satisfied with incarceration conditions — Russian ombudswoman

The Russian human rights advocate said ready to help Issachar write a plea of mercy

Naama Issachar AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko Jr.

Naama Issachar

© AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko Jr.

MOSCOW, January 23. /TASS/. Russian human rights ombudswoman Tatiana Moskalkova said on Thursday after visiting Israeli national Naama Issachar, who was sentenced to 7.5 years in prison in Russia on drugs smuggling charges, that the latter was satisfied with the incarceration conditions.

"As for the incarceration conditions and regulations, medical assistance, she said she had no complaints and she was satisfied with the conditions at the pre-trial detention facility," Moskalkova told journalists, adding that Issachar was "very excited" to meet her as she had watched a TV coverage of her mother’s meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

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Putin assures convicted Israeli woman’s mother everything will be fine

The human rights advocate added she was ready to give a hand to the Israeli in writing a plea of mercy. "If she needs my help in writing a plea of mercy or release on parole, in case her record with the penitentiary system is good, naturally, I will be ready to help," she told journalists.

Issachar’s defense attorneys said earlier they hoped she would be pardoned and released from the pre-trial detention facility soon.

Earlier in the day, Russian President Vladimir Putin met with Naama’s mother, Jaffa Issachar, and promised her that "everything is going to be fine."

Issachar case

Naama Issachar, 25, was detained at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport on April 9, 2019 when she was in the airport’s transit zone before boarding a connecting flight to Tel Aviv after arriving from New Delhi. The airport’s security guards found 9.6 grams of cannabis in her luggage.

On October 11, 2019, the Khimki City Court in the Moscow Region found Issachar guilty of drug possession and smuggling (part 1, Article 228 and part 2, Article 229.1 of the Russian Criminal Code) and sentenced her to 7.5 years in a standard regime penal colony. Issachar admitted her guilt of possessing the drug but denied smuggling charges, saying she had no access to her luggage checked in for the transit flight. She claimed she never took drugs and had no idea of how the cannabis could happen to be in her backpack. The Moscow Regional Court upheld the verdict on December 19.

In October 2019, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Reuven Rivlin asked the Russian president to pardon Issachar. In December 2019, Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz informed that he had also raised the issue at a meeting with his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, in Rome to express the hope that the Russian president would look at possible pardoning of the Israeli woman.

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