FRIGHTENING NEWS:
Emanuel was moved to the Belarus State Psychiatric Hospital on April 10.
WE ALL KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS!!
  Tom Casey, Deputy Spokesman Washington, DC April 14, 2008 Belarus: Access to ImprisonedU.S. Citizen
The United States is concerned about the welfare of American citizen Emanuel Zeltser, imprisoned in Belarus. Mr. Zeltser suffers from serious pre-existing health conditions and requires daily medications. Despite repeated requests for consular access to Mr. Zeltser, we have been permitted only one visit on March 27.
The Government of Belarus failed to provide timely notification of his arrest, information about his medical condition, and did not inform the U.S. Embassy of his recent transfer to a state psychiatric hospital.
Consular access in Belarus has long been a concern for the United States.
We urge the Government of Belarus to comply with their international legal obligations and provide immediate and regular consular access to Emanuel Zeltser.
2008/280 Released on April 14, 2008 |
Embassy Calls for Humanitarian Release of U.S. Citizen
U.S. Embassy Minsk Press Statement
April 29, 2008
The United States is deeply concerned about the deteriorating health of American citizen Emanuel Zeltser, imprisoned in Belarus. Since his detention on March 12, the U.S. Embassy in Minsk has only been permitted to visit him on two occasions, March 27 and April 25.
During the visit on April 25, the consular officer from the U.S. Embassy noticed a significant physical deterioration of Mr. Zeltser’s health since the previous visit on March 27. Mr. Zeltser lost a considerable amount of weight and was very weak. Despite all efforts by the U.S. Embassy, his lawyer, and his U.S. doctor to comply with prison procedures, Mr. Zeltser has not been permitted to take his required daily medications, which may be causing irreversible internal damage.
The United States is extremely concerned for the health and safety of Mr. Zeltser should he remain in the care and custody of the Government of Belarus. On April 25, the Department of State requested the Government of Belarus to release Emanuel Zeltser on humanitarian grounds immediately. We urge the Government of Belarus to favorably consider this request in order to save the life of an American citizen suffering in its custody.
Dear Friends!
Let's continue pressure on Belarus!
Free Emanuel and Vlada!
PROMINENT US ANTI-CORRUPTION LAWYER HOSTAGE IN BELARUSIAN KGB JAIL
On March 12, 2008, Emanuel Zeltser, an American national and prominent New York lawyer and human rights activist, was arrested by the Belarusian KGB at the airport in Minsk, Belarus immediately upon exiting his flight from London. He has since been kept in an unidentified KGB detention facility without a formal charge. According to reports, Mr. Zeltser has been brutally beaten, including severe and direct blows to the head during his imprisonment. He has also been denied medicine critical to his health despite a detailed medical report from Mr. Zeltser’s physician delivered to the Belarusian authorities stating that Mr. Zeltser may not survive without the medications indicated. Mr. Zeltser was visiting Belarus for the first time representing his clients.
Emanuel has been interrogated by the KGB Special Interrogation Unit, the most feared part of the KGB, known for its most barbaric tortures. This also means that Mr. Zeltser may never leave Belarusian jail alive as the Belarusian authorities will never allow the world to know about the torture.
Mr. Zeltser’s arrest was confirmed on March 15, 2008, by the US Embassy in Belarus. Additionally, the four official protests requesting access to Mr. Zeltser by the US Embassy and the US State Department, pursuant to Articles 5 and 36 of the Vienna Convention, have been denied by the Belarusian government. Mr. Zeltser went on a 7 day hunger strike demanding a meeting with a US representative; however, to this day the requests for any meeting between Mr. Zeltser and a representative of the US Embassy have been denied.
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 Wire Services, among others.