Israeli Prime Minister Benjanim Netanyahu said on Friday that, after his recent call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, he felt great optimism for positive "resolution" of the case of Israeli national Naama Issachar who is serving a prison term on drug charges in Russia
TEL AVIV (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 17th January, 2020) Israeli Prime Minister Benjanim Netanyahu said on Friday that, after his recent call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, he felt great optimism for positive "resolution" of the case of Israeli national Naama Issachar who is serving a prison term on drug charges in Russia.
On Thursday, the two leaders held telephone talks in the run-up to Putin's visit to Israel next week. On January 22, the Russian president will attend commemorative events in Israel dedicated to Holocaust Remembrance Day and the 75th anniversary of the Red Army's liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp.
"I spoke again yesterday with President Putin regarding Naama Issachar. I felt that he has genuine readiness to reach a solution. I am much more optimistic. I cannot go into details but we will continue to do everything in order to bring Naama home. And until then, we will continue to support both her family and her," Netanyahu said, as quoted by his office.
Israeli-US national Issachar was arrested at a Moscow airport in April while on layover from Israel to India, with nine grams of marijuana found in her rucksack. As a result, the young woman was sentenced to 7.5 years in prison on drug smuggling and possession charges.
The penalty has been harshly criticized in Israel as disproportionate since the amount of drugs found is allowed for personal use in Israel, though it is considered illegal in Russia.
Issachar's defense has said that it plans to file a complaint with the European Court of Human Rights and is working on a second appeal with a Moscow court after the first one was dismissed in mid-December.
