RUSSIA SENTENCES WOMAN TO SEVEN YEARS FOR MARIJUANA AFTER ISRAEL REJECTS PRISONER SWAP FOR DETAINED

Russian

A Russian court has sentenced Naama Issachar, an Israeli-American woman and Israeli army vet, to seven and a half years in prison on a narcotics smuggling charge after less than a third of an ounce of marijuana was found in her luggage while she was on a connecting flight from Russia to Tel Aviv, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reports.

Issachar, 25, was first charged with cannabis possession, where the standard sentence is a month in prison and a fine. She has been held in Russia since the 9 grams of marijuana were found in her luggage in April.

Russia tried to exchange Issachar for Aleksey Burkov, a 29-year-old Russian who's been held in Israel since 2015 and is facing extradition to the United States. Burkov, an IT specialist, faces embezzlement charges related to credit card fraud.

Israeli newspaper Haaretz reports that Burkov, whom it calls a hacker, could not be sent back to Russia because of a Supreme Court ruling approving the extradition to the U.S. Burkov was indicted after allegedly trying to sell the details of 150,000 credit cards.

Newsweek
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