Naama Issachar
Naama IssacharCourtesy of the family

The family of Naama Issachar, the Israeli who is detained in Russia, on Thursday petitioned the Supreme Court demanding that the order to extradite Russian hacker Aleksey Burkov to the US be revoked.

The order was signed by Justice Minister Amir Ohana earlier this week.

Naama Issachar was sentenced to 7.5 years in prison in Russia for possessing 9.5 grams of marijuana while passing through a Moscow airport.

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 Issachar to be return to Israel as part of a prisoner exchange deal.

"We hope the honorable Supreme Court justices listen carefully to the request of Naama, who has been sitting in the Russian prison for 7 months and is being used as an inter-country bargaining chip," Naama's family said.

The petition states that "the Minister's signature of the order signifies the fate of the petitioner, who is being held hostage by the Russian government which is seeking to prevent the extradition of that Russian citizen to the United States.”

"It is self-evident that the basis of the severe sentence and discriminatory judgment given in the petitioner's case was foreign considerations," the petition further states. "It is evident that the attempt to prevent Burkov's extradition to the United States was the main reason for the sentencing. The simple facts described above are suffice to prove that the petitioner did not receive due process - a constitutional right that has long been recognized in both international law as well as in our legal system.”

The family members added, "These are therefore particularly difficult circumstances in which a foreign state makes cruel and cynical use of an Israeli citizen to prevent the extradition of its citizen to a third state. Thus, the petitioner's rights to freedom and due process have been trampled completely, for foreign purposes."

"The first alternative, which is also the first remedy sought in this petition - is to avoid extradition to the United States and to respond to the Russian extradition request. In this way, the State of Israel will not allow Burkov to escape the law and use the State of Israel as a refuge state, on the one hand; And allow the petitioner's return to the State of Israel, on the other. The second alternative is the alternative remedy sought in this petition - delaying the execution of the extradition procedure, in accordance with the law, until the circumstances of the petitioner change," the petition reads.

Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Reuven Rivlin have both appealed to Russian President Vladimir Putin to release Issachar. So far Putin has not responded to their requests.