Documents of Zeltser, US citizen dying in prison, “lost”

Minsk city court does not have a request concerning the US lawyer Emanuel Zeltser convicted in Belarus.

“Minsk city court doesn’t have any request concerning Zeltser’s case,” stated the chairman of the Supreme Court of Belarus Valyantsin Sukala to journalists in Minsk.

He underlined that “the question of applying or non-applying amnesty to Zeltser lie within cognizance of the correctional facility. The court does not have any requests about Zeltser,” V. Sukala underlined.

As it was informed, the US citizen Emanuel Zeltser, convicted for commercial espionage in Belarus, went on protest hunger strike on June 8. The reason is absence of documents needed for his amnesty.

As said by Zeltser’s lawyer Zmitser Harachka, because of the hunger strike Zeltser stopped to take some of his medicines which cannot be taken without meals. As a result his pain in legs has become more intense. The inmate feels very bed and looks 20 years older than his age.

The lawyer informed that “he is waiting for answers to complaints sent to the Supreme Court and the General Prosecutor’s Office, related to the fact that Minsk city court is delaying issuing the document necessary for consideration of Zeltser’s amnestying”.

Zmitser Harachka thinks that the administration of the colony is the last who is interested in delaying the case. Emanuel Zeltser’s hunger strike lasts since June 8, and as he is the US citizen, whose fate cause serious concern in Washington, the colony is not interested in attracting unnecessary attention.

The administration of the correctional colony #15 of Mahilyou has sent a request to Minsk city court about the US citizen Emanuel Zeltser on May 7. Zeltser’s lawyer has the reference number of the request.

“Answering my request, yesterday the Supreme Court sent an answer to me also claiming that there is no request in Minks city court. The administration of the colony in their turn says that they had sent a request to Minsk court for sure. It was done on May 7 (and now is June 25!), I have a reference number of this request. Frankly speaking, it looks like lies, but I cannot understand who is lying to whom. However, I still haven’t received an answer to my complaint against studying the request concerning Zeltser for too long,” Zmitser Harachka noted.

Emanuel Zeltser was detained in Minsk on March 12, 2008. A number of mass media expressed an opinion that his arrest was related to the dispute over legacy of Georgian businessman Badri Patarkatsishvili who died in London. On August 11, the Minsk City Court sentenced Emanuel Zeltser to three years of imprisonment in a colony for the use of fake documents and attempted commercial espionage.

Emanuel Zeltser is a former Soviet emigrant, an expert on organized crime control and money laundering in Russia and former Soviet republics. He was involved in the case of supposed money laundering through the Bank of New York.