U.S. lawyer freed from Belarus jail on pardon
A high-profile U.S. lawyer has been released from a Belarusian prison on a presidential pardon after more than a year in custody on industrial espionage charges.
Emanuel Zeltser was detained in Minsk in March 2008 and convicted last August on charges of using fake documents and attempted industrial espionage.
"The president signed a decree to pardon Zeltser, all formalities were carried out, and the U.S. national was freed," a Belarusian police official said.
Zeltser`s lawyer confirmed the release, adding that the 55-year-old, who has diabetes, was in satisfactory condition.
Zeltser was reportedly in Belarus in connection with the business interests of his client, the late Georgian billionaire Badri Patarkatsishvili. The businessman, who funded the Georgian opposition, died in February 2008 at his home near London.
Zeltser, born in Soviet Moldova, has maintained his innocence. He announced a hunger strike earlier this year in protest of the failure of authorities to review his case.
U.S. State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said on Monday "the United States welcomes this positive step," recalling that Zeltser`s detention had been "a major obstacle in our bilateral relations."
"We still have other concerns, of course, with some of the actions of the Belarusian government. So we`re very happy that this one obstacle has been removed, and we`ll review our policy as necessary," he said.
Belarus, once dubbed by Washington "Europe`s last dictatorship," has moved to improve ties with the West over the past year.
President Alexander Lukashenko, criticized for his crackdown on independent media and free speech, has ordered a release of some political prisoners and eased other restrictions. The European Union has since lifted a travel ban on the head of state and other top Belarusian officials.
Zeltser has been involved in a series of high-profile cases, including representing investors who lost deposits in the Bank of New York. His clients have included former Kremlin aide Pavel Borodin, who was arrested in New York on money laundering charges in 2001.
After Patarkatsishvili died in February 2008, his estate became the center of a legal dispute between the Georgian businessman`s wife, supported by fugitive Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky, and a distant cousin, Joseph Kay, represented by Zeltser.
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