Canadian Yana Gorelik will serve a three-month jail term for not serving in the Israeli army. Gorelik accepted a plea bargain with Israel’s Military Advocate General on Thursday and will receive time served for three weeks spent in pre-trial custody.

Although Gorelik, 30, has been officially released from military service, she will still serve out her sentence in jail for what Israel considers to be desertion from the army. After a special committee conducted examinations over the past week, the army determined Gorelik was not fit to serve in the army.

Gorelik’s discharge was taken into consideration when the military judge offered her the plea agreement last week. The judge also considered the amount of time Gorelik had been out of the country (over 11 years) and the fact that she had previously been offered the option of serving a reduced army term of one month.

Gorelik may be released after 81 days of her 90 day sentence for good behaviour.

Gorelik’s family say they tried every available option to get her released, but were unsuccessful.

“We’re not happy about it, but there’s nothing we can do,” said Gorelik’s younger sister in Toronto, Ilona. She said she has contacted Canadian Consular Services several times since the arrest.

“It’s just not working,” she said. “The government here doesn’t want to get involved with Israeli rules and bylaws.”

She added that she also contacted a Toronto lawyer who promised to meet with Canadian government officials about her sister’s case, but didn’t believe this service was worth his fee — $20,000.

“We’ve already tried it all.”

Gorelik was detained in Israel after she arrived in the country on Labour Day weekend to attend her cousin’s wedding. Gorelik, a 30-year-old with dual Canadian-Israeli citizenship, left Israel for Toronto with her family when she was 17. All Israeli citizens are required to start mandatory service in the Israeli Defense Forces at 18 unless they receive an exemption.

Gorelik’s fiancé, Frederik Lillelund, said he believes Canadian consular officials were in touch with Gorelik to hear about her condition. “But from what I understood they couldn’t really do anything,” he said over the telephone from London, England.

Joshua Zanin, communications director for Minister of State of Foreign Affairs says Canadian officials will continue providing consular assistance, but would not comment on specifics. Foreign Affairs said they cannot comment on particular files due to the Privacy Act.

“It’s hard, but she doesn’t have much choice,” said cousin Anna Shahnovich over the phone from the Jaffa Military Court, where she was waiting for the bus to arrive to drive Gorelik back to Prison 4. “It could have been even worse. So, we’re happy that she didn’t get much more time than three months.”

Gorelik’s lawyer in Israel, Benny Kooznits, is satisfied with the outcome.

“In my opinion, in these circumstances and in this complicated case, it is the most reasonable punishment we could have gotten,” Kooznits said by phone from Israel. “All that Yana wants is to put the whole thing behind her and to go on with her life.”

Sentences in similar cases where Israeli citizens have been found guilty of deserting the army normally range between nine months and one year in prison.

Shahnovich said Gorelik was not sleeping well and not speaking much over the Jewish New Year when she was released from prison for a few days. She was also crying and staring at walls.

On her second appeal to the prison, Gorelik was allowed a three-day vacation leave from prison to stay with her cousin after the first appeal was denied.

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Over the past week, a psychiatrist examined Gorelik and determined she was well enough to remain in prison. Gorelik may receive a court hearing next week, however, to further assess her mental state according to Gorelik’s sister.

As a prisoner in an Israeli jail Gorelik is barred from speaking to the media.

Gorelik’s fiancé is looking forward to her release and plans to take time off to spend time with her. He said her boss at the clinic where she works as a massage therapist in London has been understanding in the situation and has said that Gorelik is welcome to return to her old job.

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