Emanuel Zeltser: Belarusian KGB is not better than Gestapo – I was threatened with death

The arrested in Minsk lawyer gave a sensational interview to American Radio Liberty after his release.

The Charter’97 press center presents the interview with Emanuel Zeltser on its website.

To questions what relation Minsk and Belarus have to the situation with Badri Patarkatsishvili’s estate and the information that the Georgian oligarch had investments in Belarus is true, Emanuel Zeltser said:

“There are two interrelated aspects. Besides Patarkatsishvili’s assets here, I chose the wrong time to visit Belarus – March 12, when the US ambassador had to leave the country. I was told later in the KGB that my arrest was an “additional sanction”. Badri Patarkatsishvili invested in Belarus – in Belneftekhim, Naftan. Serious money. Actually, I needn’t have been there.”

Emanuel Zeltser said he would like to tell the details of his arrival in Minsk and arrest later in written form. His argument is that a lawyer who has signed a non-disclosure agreement remained in Minsk and Zeltser fears to harm the lawyer with reckless words. He promises to tell everything possible.

To a question how he was treated in a KGB detention facility and later in prisons, Zeltser told he didn’t receive the medicines he needed as a person who has chronic diseases. He confirmed he had been beaten:

“I was beaten just after the arrest, my face was covered with bruises. For what? They wanted me to phone to New York and tell my colleagues wring information and pull out my client Joseph Kay (Patarkatsishvili’s relative) in Belarus. I must have said it’s good here, you may come here. I refused, they beat me and said they would kill me the next time. I phoned...”

The investigators didn’t get what they wanted: Zeltser hinted in his conversation with New York that his words should be interpreted inversely, and Joseph Kay didn’t fly to Minsk. A case was instigated against Zeltser: initially, he was charged with drugs trafficking (his medicines were taken for drugs). Then allegedly fake documents and “attempted commercial espionage” appeared on the last day of considering the case. Guards of the Mahilou penal colony, where Zeltser was serving three years under two accusations, said: “It’s the first time when we have seen person guilty of such crimes.”

Emanuel Zeltser has bad recollections of the KGB detention facility. For example, he was allowed to call for a doctor to record beating only after two months, when he had no traces.

“The Belarusian KGB is not better than the Gestapo,” the former prisoner of KGB jail (Amerikanka) concludes.

Emanuel Zeltser gave detailed answered to questions about relation of Russian fugitive tycoon Boris Berezovsky to his case. According to Zeltser, his arrest in Minsk was initiated by Berezovsky. The objective was remove him as Joseph Kay’s lawyer from the way to the estate of former Berezovsky’s companion Patarkatsishvili. According to Zeltser, Berezovsky sold his stake in the common business and his claims for the estate are unlawful.

Too a question why Berezovsky’s plans found such active support in Belarus Zeltser said the case was in friendly relations between Berezovsky and Lukashenka:

“Berezovsky told they were on friendly terms. It happened so that he became a secretary of the Security Council of Russian and came to Minsk several times. Berezovsky spoke with him on phone and called him Alyaksandr. Not by his father’s name, not Sasha. There’s a serious interest. I’ll try to give more details in written form,” Zeltser promised.

Answering a question “Belarus is called the last dictatorship of Europe, but there are people who think so. Which of the sides do you support?”, the American lawyer said:

“Belarus has inherited the worst things from the Soviet Union. Every investigator has a portrait of Dzerzhinsky in his office – what one can say more! He is a killer! Even in Russia you cannot find a portrait of Dzerzhinsky. I have never met an organization with this monstrous name – KGB, only in Belarus.

To a question on what conditions he would return to Belarus, Zeltser said:

“The first condition is that Lukashenka won’t rule the country. I have no claims to Belarus and people of Belarus. I think the country is good, it could be a beautiful European country, people are kind here. Everyone, except KGB officers, is good. Even prisoners, even prison guards. The country would have been excellent if it hadn’t been for the current authorities.”

The Belarusian court refused to arrest exiled Russian oligarch Berezovsky

BelaPAN information agency published an interview with Zeltser today. To a question if disgraced Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky gave evidence as a witness at a trial Zeltser said:

“He was a main witness. He was accompanied by an armed bodyguard, who was walking in the courtroom demonstrating his weapon under his jacket.

The cases of our clients, where Berozovsky is involve in, are being considered by courts of different levels. The number is likely to increase. Berezovsky is already sentenced to long terms in Russia for fraud... By the way, he was proud to confirm this fact at the trial in Minsk.”

To a question of Radio Liberty why Berezovsky wasn’t detained in Belarus, Zeltser said:

“At the trial, my lawyer told the judge and the prosecutor the Berezovsky was a fugitivecriminal who must be arrested. The both smiled in response. Their reaction was laugh. Legally, the judge denied the lawyer’s request. Berezovsky said he was a fugitive criminal in Russia. That was what he said. It’s worth attention how he was sure in his immunity. The Belarusian court guaranteed immunity to Berezovsky.”

“I felt like a hostage”

Zeltser confirmed in an interview to Radio Liberty that Berezovsky visited him in the KGB jail and they had talked “for two hours”.

Emanuel Zeltser also confirmed the words of his secretary Vladlena Funk who said they had found themselves in a plane flying to Belarus after they had drunk “coffee with barbiturates”.

The American citizen thinks he was a hostage and comparesa his situation with the situation in Somali where pirates hijack ship to demand million’s ransoms.

“They decided that even a bad sheep gives a bit of wool. They began bargaining. It was open. I felt like a hostage,” Zeltser said.