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American lawyer Emanuel Zeltser who was imprisoned in Belarus last year following a closed-door trial was freed from Mahilyow’s prison on the evening of June 30 after being pardoned by Alyaksandr Lukashenka, BelaPAN said.
Mr. Zeltser walked free at around 10:00 p.m. An officer of the US embassy arrived in Mahilyow to meet and take him to Minsk on an embassy car.
Mr. Zeltser left Belarus on a plane at 5:30 a.m. on Wednesday.
Mr. Lukashenka signed the presidential edict pardoning the ailing lawyer on June 30 after meeting with a visiting delegation of senior US lawmakers, according to the press office of the Belarusian leader.
US Senator Benjamin L. Cardin told reporters after the meeting that Mr. Lukashenka had promised to release the US lawyer, indicating that it could be done “as early as today.”
Mr. Lukashenka’s press office quoted him as telling the US lawmakers that Mr. Zeltser had been imprisoned lawfully for “violating Belarusian laws.”
“He was convicted in accordance with Belarusian laws, which even the US charge d’affaires, Jonathan Moore, doesn’t deny,” Mr. Lukashenka said. “I never thought that this person could become an issue in relations between our states. It is true that I may pardon Emanuel Zeltser in accordance with Belarusian laws and the constitution. You have requested me to do this, haven’t you? If it is very important to America and our relations and may contribute to the normalization of our relations, I’ll sign the edict today.”
The embassy welcomes the release of Mr. Zeltser, Mr. Moore said.
“The further development of relations will depend on steps on the part of both sides,” he noted.
Mr. Zeltser’s defense counsel had repeatedly said that his client had been fully eligible for release under this year’s amnesty law.
The Belarusian authorities, however, delayed a decision on his release. The 55-year-old Zeltser went on hunger strike on June 7 in protest against the foot-dragging. He suspended the strike some 20 days later.
In August 2008, Mr. Zeltser was sentenced to three years in prison on charges of "attempted industrial espionage" and the use of fake documents. His secretary, Russian citizen Vladlena Funk, was sentenced to one year in prison on the same charges. The Minsk City Court held the trial behind closed doors and no details of the case were disclosed to the public.
The pair were arrested upon their arrival in Minsk in March 2008. Ms. Funk was released from a Homyel correctional institution on March 12 after fully serving her sentence. She left Belarus after being held in a local detention center for more than a week.
Mark Zeltser, brother of the American lawyer, claimed that Russia's self-exiled oligarch Boris Berezovsky had orchestrated the prosecution of Emanuel Zeltser over the assets of the late Georgian billionaire Badri Patarkatsishvili. When Mr. Patarkatsishvili died, his assets became the subject of a dispute pitting the widow backed by Mr. Berezovsky, against his step cousin, Joseph Kay, who was represented by Mr. Zeltser.