Imprisoned US native Zeltser denied medications in KGB prison

Imprisoned American lawyer Emanuel Zeltser is being denied medications that have been delivered for him from the United States, his defense counsel, Dzmitry Harachka, told BelaPAN.

The press office of the Committee for State Security (KGB) was not immediately available for comment.

A week ago, officers of the Minsk-based US embassy visited the KGB detention center to hand over the medications prescribed to Mr. Zeltser who is suffering very ill health. Mr. Zeltser complained of "constant terrible pain" and expressed fear that he might not survive his term, said the press office of the embassy following the visit. These pills are not given to Mr. Zeltser for more than a week, lawyer Harachka said.

Mr. Zeltser on August 11 was sentenced to three years in prison in a closed-door hearing at the Minsk City Court on charges of "attempted industrial espionage" and the use of fake documents. His secretary, Russian national Vladlena Funk, was sentenced to one year in prison on the same charges.

The pair were arrested upon their arrival in Minsk in March.

Mr. Harachka said that a date for the Supreme Court's hearing of their appeal against the sentences could be set this week.

E. Zeltser was also charged with smuggling drugs, but the court found that medicines taken by Zeltser for the last 15 years and which were confiscated during the arrest, were not illegal drugs. The authorities of the US seek his release on humanitarian grounds, as his health has deteriorated greatly in prison without drugs advised by doctors.