Emmanuel Zeltser stops hunger-strike till 30 June
According to information of the lawyer Zmitser Harachka, the American businessman Emmanuel Zetser, currently serving a prison term in Mahiliou prison, has stopped his hunger-strike of protest till 30 June. The layer refused from commenting on this step of his client.
Mr. Zeltser started the hunger-strike on 8 June in order to protest against the actions of Minsk city court that had did not present to the prison administration the documents that were necessary for considering the question on amnestying him.
Emmanuel Zetser falls under the conditions of the amnesty that has been declared recently in connection with the upcoming 65th anniversary of Belarus’ liberation from the German Nazi troops.
On 23 June the prosecutor general of Belarus Ryhor Vasilevich expressed the opinion that the question of giving amnesty to Zeltser was being considered for too long and promised to discriminate in the situation.
Emmanuel Zeltser was arrested on landing at Minsk airport in March 2008, and in August he was sentenced to three years in prison on charges of industrial espionage and using forged documents. His secretary Vladilena Funk (Bruskova) was sentenced to one year of imprisonment and was released in March 2009.
Mark Zeltser, who lives in New-York, alleges that the arrest of his brother was related to his work on the disputed inheritance of Georgian billionaire Badri Patarkatsishvili, who died in London in February 2008. At the time of his arrest, Zeltser was representing Joseph Kay, a relative of Patarkatsishvili who claims to be the billionaire's heir.
