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Pardoned Israeli national Naama Issachar released from custody

Issachar was sentenced in Russia on drug charges and pardoned by Russian President Vladimir Putin

© Gavriil Grigorov/TASS

MOSCOW, January 30. /TASS/. The Federal Penitentiary Service (FPS) of Russia confirmed that the Israeli national Naama Issachar, sentenced in Russia for drug smuggling and pardoned by Russian President Vladimir Putin, has been released from the penal colony located in the Moscow Region.

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Putin pardons Israeli national Issachar sentenced in Russia for drug smuggling

"In accordance with the January 29, 2020, Presidential pardon, Naama Issachar has been released from the penal facility," the FPS press service told TASS.

Earlier, a law enforcement source told TASS that Issachar has been released.

Another source told TASS that Issachar has been released Wednesday night.

The Israeli woman was serving her sentence in the Penal Colony №1, located in Moscow Region’s Novoye Grishino. On January 29, Issachar was pardoned by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Her attorney, Alexey Dobrynin, said that she would depart to Israel Thursday on the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plane, who expressed a desire to take her from Russia personally.

Naama Issachar’s case

Naama Issachar has been apprehended on April 9, 2019, in Sheremetyevo airport, where she awaited plane change on her flight from New Delhi to Tel Aviv in the transit zone. A service dog reacted to her bag, and the customs officers discovered some 10 grams of hashish. On October 11, Khimki City Court convicted Issachar of drug smuggling and sentenced her to 7.5 years. On December 19, Moscow Region Court upheld the sentence.

Earlier, the Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov explained to journalists that the pardon process is slowed down by absence of Issachar’s personal pardon plea, since it is required by Russian law. On January 26, media reported that the plea has been filed by Issachar.

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