On Wednesday night, Israel’s Justice Minister Amir Ohana announced he would be extraditing the arrested Russian hacker Alexei Burkov to the US. Burkov is wanted in the US for cyber-crimes, including credit fraud.
Russia wants Burkov returned to Russia, and to that end, arrested Israeli-American Naama Issachar during her stopover in Russia, sentencing her to an exaggerated 7.5 years in jail for a minor drug charge, essentially holding her hostage for a prisoner exchange.
Issachar’s family petitioned the Israeli High Court on Thursday to prevent Burkov’s extradition, so the two can be traded.
The High Court issued a temporary injunction against the extradition, according to a Jerusalem Post report.
The Justice Ministry and Burkov’s lawyers have until November 3 to respond.