Alexei Burkov, the Russian hacker who is imprisoned in Israel, on Tuesday made a personal request to Justice Minister Amir Ohana asking him not to approve his extradition to the US.
Burkov based his appeal to Ohana on Article 17 of the European Convention on extradition which calls on the official making the decision on extradition not to make a biased decision and not to violate the laws of the European Convention.
In addition to the request to extradite Burkov to the United States, there is also a request to extradite him to Russia. Burkov's extradition to Russia may allow Israeli citizen Naama Issachar to be return to Israel as part of a prisoner exchange deal.
"If I am extradited to the US, the option of a prisoner swap deal will expire," Burkov noted in his appeal to the Justice Minister.
Minister Ohana is the official who is supposed to make a final decision on the extradition request under the law, but according to the Supreme Court's ruling in the past, the discretion given to him is very limited.
The decision is expected to be made in the coming days, and the family of Issachar, who was sentenced last week to seven and a half years in prison, is holding its breath while awaiting a decision that may also affect her fate.
Earlier on Tuesday, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu submitted an official request on behalf of President Reuven Rivlin to Russian President Vladimir Putin to pardon Issachar and to allow her to return to Israel.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday that Putin would consider pardoning Issachar once Netanyahu’s request gets through the diplomatic channels.