Russian hacker, Na’ama Issachar ask High Court to block U.S. extradition
Generally, the petitioners oppose any extradition, but given the current state of legal play, they are pushing for extradition to Russia rather than the US.
By YONAH JEREMY BOBNaama Issachar, who was arrested by Russia and given seven-and-a-half years in prison for carrying cannabis.(photo credit: COURTESY OF FAMILY)
A Russian hacker and an Israeli woman in a Russian prison for cannabis possession on Sunday both requested the High Court of Justice to block the hacker’s extradition to the US.The family of Na’ama Issachar, who is serving a seven-and-a-half-year sentence in Russia for possession, filed their petition at the end of last week, while the hacker, Alexei Burkov, filed a petition on Sunday.These moves followed Acting Justice Minister Amir Ohana’s signing the extradition order to send Burkov to the US for perpetrating cyber fraud. There were also prior rulings by the Jerusalem District Court and the Supreme Court to extradite him.Generally, the petitioners oppose any extradition, but given the current state of legal play, they are pushing for extradition to Russia rather than the US, as part of a package deal for Russia to return Issachar to Israel.Israelis generally view Issachar as having violated the law, but sense that the violation was itself was minor and the seemingly heavy Russian jail sentence was a political move to try to press Israel into returning Burkov to Moscow.In a bizarre legal twist unique to the extradition process, though the Supreme Court already ordered Burkov’s extradition, he has a second opportunity to object after the justice minister signs the extradition order by addressing his petition to the same body, but in its capacity as the High Court of Justice.Essentially, extradition has both a criminal and constitutional component and the initial Supreme Court ruling addresses the criminal issues, while the later High Court ruling addresses potential constitutional obstacles.In theory, the High Court could overturn the earlier Supreme Court ruling. The High Court has frozen the extradition – in the meanwhile – until it can issue its decision.Practically speaking, cases where the High Court (in its capacity as the Supreme Court) denies an extradition that it has already approved, are extraordinarily rare.The two main arguments on which Burkov is relying in his latest petition to the High Court are: firstly, that earlier court decisions were to extradite him, in general, but not necessarily specifically to the US rather than Russia, and, secondly, that Burkov was not physically present in the US.Classically, in an extradition case, one person commits a crime in his home country and flees to a foreign country to escape the home country’s law and jurisdiction.Typically, the criminal acted for personal gain, and neither of the governments involved are invested – one way or the other – in the outcome of the case.If there is an extradition treaty between the country of origin and the country to where the criminal fled, the petitioner is usually extradited back to his home country.Beyond the simple extradition case, there may be another layer of diplomatic considerations in the case which may affect the standard situation.In this case, Burkov has been on “extradition row” since 2015 when the US filed a serious and well-grounded evidentiary request for extraditing him to the US for perpetrating a cyber fraud scheme.In the age of globalized crime, physically residing in a country is not necessarily required if the main damage resulting from the criminal actions also incurred in that country.Burkov’s extradition to the US could have been a routine deal.Russia’s harsh sentence of Issachar sparked speculation that Burkov has a higher value to Moscow and that he might have been involved in cyber intelligence activities. Otherwise, it would be unclear why Russia would take notice of any one citizen getting a jail sentence for fraud.There are many political reasons why Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would want to accommodate Russian President Vladimir Putin, and there might even be few legal ones.Ultimately, following the legal arguments, the extradition is expected to go through. Also, it could be said, that Israel would be more concerned about upsetting the US by failing to extradite Burkov than it would be concerned about alienating Russia.
