BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

18/03/2008

Status of US lawyer arrested in Belarus still unknown as his family worries for his health

The Associated Press

MINSK, Belarus: The arrest of a U.S. lawyer in Belarus last week remained shrouded in mystery Tuesday as local authorities declined to provide any information on his detention.

Russian-born Emanuel Zeltser, 54, who heads non-governmental organization Russian-American Law Institute, was detained on March 12 as he arrived in Belarus for meetings with clients.

Officials at Belarus' spy service, which still goes under its Soviet name KGB, confirmed Zeltser's arrest, but declined to provide any details.

Zeltser's brother Mark said by telephone from New York he has not heard directly from Emanuel and does not know why he was arrested. He said he was very concerned.

"He needs medication for gout and diabetes," Mark Zeltser said of his brother. "Some of his medications are considered narcotics in Belarus, and I don't know how to get them to him."

Emanuel Zeltser was traveling from England with his secretary, Russian national Vladlena Funk, who also was detained. It was his first trip to Belarus, his brother said.

Mark Zeltser said he has was told by the U.S. Embassy that it had received no information from Belarusian authorities about the arrest, and had been unable to get in touch with Emanuel Zeltser.

"I understand he was detained immediately after leaving the plane," Mark Zeltser said, adding that he had got confirmation of the arrest from the Belarusian Embassy in Washington.

The case could worsen already strained ties between the U.S. and Belarus, which earlier this month recalled its ambassador to Washington for consultations and pushed the United States do the same.

Minsk has said it is angry over U.S. sanctions against Belarus' state-controlled oil-processing and chemicals company.

U.S. officials have called President Alexander Lukashenko "Europe's last dictator" for his authoritarian rule and intolerance of dissent in the ex-Soviet republic of 10 million. Washington has demanded Belarus release all inmates the U.S. considers political prisoners.

Russian news agency Interfax cited Belarusian Interior Ministry sources as saying the arrest may have taken place at the request of Russian law enforcement authorities.

But the Moscow branch of Interpol said it was not aware of any Russian-issued international arrest warrant for Zeltser.

The Russian Prosecutor General's Office could not be reached for comment.

Zeltser appeared in 1999 before the U.S. House Committee on Banking and Financial Services as an expert witness on money laundering and fraud in Russia.

In 2001, Zeltser acted as defense lawyer for Pavel Borodin when the former senior Kremlin official was arrested in New York on money laundering charges. Borodin, who has longtime links with Russia's President Vladimir Putin, is now executive secretary of a Russia-Belarus union.

In 1995, Zeltser sued Inkombank, once Russia's second-largest bank, in a U.S. federal court, accusing it of misappropriating funds from depositors in collaboration with the Bank of New York. He previously worked for the bank, but claimed he was dismissed from his post after initiating an investigation into evidence of theft and fraud. Inkombank collapsed in 1998 amid Russia's financial crisis.

Associated Press Writer Peter Leonard in Moscow contributed to this report.

Source:

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/03/18/europe/EU-GEN-Belarus-US-Citizen-Arrested.php

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