US State Department calls for release of lawyer Zeltser
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10:52, — Politics
The US State Department has called on Minsk to release American lawyer Emanuel Zeltser on "humanitarian grounds."
Belarus' charge d’affair in Washington on April 25 was summoned to the US State Department and given the statement calling for the release of the lawyer whose health "noticeably deteriorated."
"Mr. Zeltser appeared considerably weaker and thinner than when a consular officer was last permitted to visit him on March 27. We are deeply concerned for his health and welfare," said the press office of the US embassy in Minsk.
The statement of the US State Department was issued after US Consul Caroline Savage met with Mr. Zeltser earlier in the day. She told BelaPAN that his health condition caused serious concern, noting that the man had lost weight, was very weak and had difficulty walking and talking, and that he had been beaten two or three times while in custody.
Maryya Vanshyna, spokesperson for the Belarusian foreign ministry, confirmed that the Belarusian diplomat had been summoned up to the US State Department but declined to offer any details.
Previously, a representative of the US diplomatic mission in Minsk had been allowed to meet with the lawyer only once, on March 27. The embassy repeatedly called for permission to meet the US citizen one more time.
The US lawyer was arrested in the Belarusian capital city on March 12 together with his secretary, Russian citizen Vladlena Funk, upon their arrival. The two were put into the detention center of the Committee for State Security (KGB), charged under Part 2 of the Criminal Code’s Article 318 with using fake documents.
The lawyer's brother, Mark Zeltser, claims that self-exiled Russian businessman Boris Berezovsky orchestrated the arrests together with spokesman Lord Tim Bell, one of Britain's top public-relations men, and Lord Peter Goldsmith over the assets of the late Georgian billionaire Badri Patarkatsishvili.
When Mr. Patarkatsishvili died, his assets became the subject of a dispute pitting the widow backed by Mr. Berezovsky, against his step cousin, Joseph Kay, who is represented by Mr. Zeltser.
On April 28, Mark Zeltser sent an open letter to Alyaksandr Lukashenka and Prosecutor General Ryhor Vasilevich, urging them to "save" the life of his brother. "Boris Berezovsky wants to prevent Emanuel Zeltser’s release and, as I already informed you before, plans the murder of Emanuel or his death “by natural causes” and blame Belarus for this," he said.
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