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Pardoned Israeli national Issachar never admitted guilt, attorney says

On January 29, Vladimir Putin granted her pardon

Naama Issachar Gavriil Grigorov/TASS

Naama Issachar

© Gavriil Grigorov/TASS

MOSCOW, January 30. /TASS/. Naama Issachar, the Israeli national sentenced in Russia for hashish smuggling and pardoned by Russian President Vladimir Putin, did not admit guilt when she filed the pardon plea, says the defense statement.

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"There has been no admission of guilt - neither full nor partial, nothing. There is no admission of guilt in the pardon plea. What could she admit if she never crossed the Russian border?" The statement says.

On April 9, 2019, Issachar was apprehended in Sheremetyevo airport, where she awaited plane change on her flight from New Delhi to Tel Aviv. A service dog reacted to her bag, and the customs officers discovered 10 grams of hashish. On October 11 last year, Khimki Moscow Court sentenced Issachar for 7.5 years for drug smuggling. On December 19, Moscow Regional Court upheld the sentence.

On January 26, Issachar filed a pardon plea. On January 29, Vladimir Putin granted her pardon, effective immediately.

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