On the way to release? Naama Issachar filed a formal pardon

After the Kremlin made it clear that the Israeli pardon could not be discussed without a formal application, Yaffar Yishar this morning took off to Russia to advance the procedure. "Hope the application is accepted as soon as possible and we can see it coming home"

On the way to release? Naama Issachar filed a formal pardon

Naama Issachar, the Israeli young woman imprisoned in Russia, filed an official pardon request on Sunday. This, after the Kremlin was notified last Friday that the pardon's application cannot be discussed without Shachar officially submitting it. This morning, Yissachar, Naama's mother, took off to Moscow to advance the procedure.

Following the Kremlin's announcement, lawyers from the Russian defense team, led by Attorney Vadim Klugbant, went to the detention center to explain the procedure to her. "Naama, her family and her lawyers hope that the Russian president, according to his constitutional authority, will quickly adopt a pardon and release decision," it said. .

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In preparation for amnesty? Naama Issachar (Photo: AP)

Naama Issachar at a Moscow court hearing, Russia, December 19, 2019 (Photo: AP)

"We hope that the pardon examination will not take long, and the request will be received as soon as possible, in the next few days," said attorney Alexei Kovalenko of the Israeli defense team, and concluded with the hope that "we can see her coming home with her mother and her family."

The Kremlin announcement said that the possible release of Issachar, who has been sentenced to seven and a half years in Russia after being convicted of drug smuggling, is suspended, since she has not yet filed a formal pardon. The day before, Russian President Vladimir Putin met with Yaffe Issachar during his visit to Israel. "I told Naama's mother, and I will say again, that everything will be fine," Putin said in a joint statement after their meeting. "Obviously Naama comes out of a very good family. I know the prime minister's position and make a wise decision. All this is taken into account at the time of the decision."

"Putin promised to bring the girl home"

At the end of the meeting, which was also attended by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Issachar said she was "optimistic" and that there was no release date for her daughter at the moment. "He's adorable. I didn't expect to meet such a great power president and meet a person like me. He was amazing. We talked really close and he promised he would bring the girl home to me and I hold on to the sentence he said." Issachar further said: "He has not given a date but there are procedures. I am returning to Moscow tomorrow and the lawyer on the way to Naama. I thank the prime minister and his wife and everyone who acted. I left smiling, he told me I will bring the girl home." Netanyahu told Naama Issachar's mother about pardoning her daughter that "it will happen soon."

In an interview last week Naama Issachar gave to the Russian media, she expressed optimism about her release soon from prison. The Israeli young woman said she watched her mother's meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin during his visit to Israel. "Seeing Mom on TV with such important people was very exciting," she described. "He (Putin) said everything would be fine with my adorable family. I'm still here but I believe what he said, if he said it would be fine it would mean it was fine."

At the same time, Russia's human rights commissioner Tatyana Moskalova visited Issachar in prison last week. Muscalcova examined Issachar's living conditions in prison and her medical condition. She said the Israeli young woman told her that she had no complaints and lacked nothing in her cell, which includes hot water, a fridge, TV and food. Issachar also said that in order to communicate with her environment, she learned a few words in Russian, and also said she had no medical problems, and even visited a dentist during her imprisonment. The Russian commissioner said that Issachar was "generally in a good, encouraging mood."

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Yaffe Issachar and her daughter Naama (Photo: Courtesy of the family)

Naama Issachar with her beautiful mother, arrested in Moscow on suspicion of drug smuggling (Photo: courtesy of the family)

The request for pardon for Yishker was at the center of public attention during Putin's stay in Israel, when in Jerusalem he expressed optimism about the possibility of announcing his response to Yishker's pardon request and passing it on to continue serving his sentence in Israel, with President Rivlin granting her a pardon. In preparation for the visit and during the talks on Issachar's case, Israel agreed to a package of tributes to Putin, most notably agreeing to transfer control of the Russian Church's real estate assets in Jerusalem. These are the demands the Kremlin has made to Jerusalem for years, but so far they have refused.

In recent months, Minister Ze'ev Elkin, who heads a joint intergovernmental committee on Israel and Russia, has led an inter-ministerial team working on the issue and updated members of the Russian delegation in recent steps and decisions regarding the Russian church's assets in Israel and their management, including transfer of ownership of the Alexander court complex in the city. In Jerusalem and other procedural eases regarding additional properties in Jerusalem. In addition, Elkin signed with the Russian Deputy Foreign Minister an adoption agreement governing all the adoption relations between the states, an agreement that lasted about a decade and recently completed, and the parties also discussed advancing understandings between Israel and Russia regarding easing visas for Israel in the background of high tensions between countries Of delays and refusals of entry into Russian citizens.

Issachar was sentenced to seven and a half years in prison for several grams of cannabis found in her case while in Moscow's airport. About a month ago, the Moscow court dismissed her appeal and ruled that the sentence given to her would remain unchanged. Her family then announced her intention to appeal the court's decision not to release and to appeal simultaneously to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.

(Update first: 13:31)