BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

03/04/2008

US Lawyer Held Hostage by Belarus KGB

WASHINGTON, April 3, 2008 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The following media advisory was issued today by the American Russian Law Institute:

Press Conference shall take place on Monday, April 7, 2008, at 8:30 AM, at National Press Club, ZENGER ROOM, at 529 14th Street, NW, Washington DC 20045

Organizers and Participants:

Mark Zeltser, Emanuel Zeltser's brother; Tel: 212-580-4065; e-mail: mzmus@aol.com

Dr. Peter Shacker, Emanuel Zeltser's New York physician;

Oxana Adler, Board member, American Russian Law Institute; Tel: 917-692-6709; e-mail: lawinstitute@mail.ru

Joseph Kay, Chairman of the Board of Imedi TV, Georgia (by audio link).

On March 12, 2008, Emanuel Zeltser, a prominent New York lawyer and human rights activist, and his assistant Vladlena Funk were arrested by the Belarusian KGB at the airport in Minsk, Belarus, immediately upon exiting their flight from London. They have since been kept in a KGB jail in Minsk and interrogated by the KGB Special Interrogations Unit, infamous for its barbaric tortures. Mr. Zeltser was brutally beaten, including severe and direct blows to the head. He was denied medicine critical to his health despite a detailed medical report from Mr. Zeltser's physician delivered to the Belarus authorities stating that Mr. Zeltser may not survive without the medications indicated.

The detention comes at a time when relations between Belarus and the US are at their sourest. The US Ambassador was forced away from Belarus, which was followed by the embassy's refusal to grant US visas to citizens of Belarus. These events were preceded by the US government's sanctions against violations of general democracy principles in Belarus. Mr. Zeltser's arrest was confirmed on March 15, 2008, by the US Embassy in Belarus. Four official protests requesting access to Mr. Zeltser were filed by the US Embassy in Minsk and the US State Department, pursuant to Articles 5 and 36 of the Vienna Convention, but were denied by the Belarusian government. Mr. Zeltser went on a 7 day hunger strike demanding a meeting with a US consul.

Mr. Zeltser is well-known in the US and abroad for being a long time opponent of money laundering and organized crime in Russia and former Soviet republics. He is Director of the American Russian Law Institute known for its vociferous stance against international money laundering. In 1999, at the invitation of the US Congress, Mr. Zeltser testified before the House Committee on Banking and Financial Services at the Hearing on Russian organized crime and money laundering. Mr. Zeltser regularly appears as a legal expert in the media including Fox News Channel, CNN, ABC-TV (Australia), The Voice of America, Radio Liberty/Radio Free Europe, CBC (Canada) and others, addressing many legal and political issues including international terrorism, money laundering and organized crime. His unlawful imprisonment has been covered by The New York Times, International Herald Tribune, Forbes Magazine, Associated Press, U.S. News MSNBC, etc., and a demonstration in protest of his detention took place at the Belarus Consulate in New York on April 2, 2008.

American Russian Law Institute

Source:

http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/us-lawyer-held-hostage-by-belarus-kgb,339352.shtml

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