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US lawyer Emanuel Zeltser returns to work days after release from Belarusian prison

US lawyer Emanuel Zeltser has returned to work just days after his release from a Belarusian prison.

“I have fallen behind with my work a bit in the last 16 months. I’m glad to be at large. It’s better here than in prison,” the 55-year-old, who arrived in New York on a flight from Minsk on July 1, said in a short telephone interview with BelaPAN.

The lawyer’s brother, Mark Zeltser, said that Emanuel had been greeted by some of his clients at the New York airport. He said that his brother had lost much weight but was in a cheerful mood. “He is helped by an inner fire, he is a very strong person,” Mark told BelaPAN.

Mr. Zeltser spent in Belarus 476 days, all of them in custody. He was freed from Mahilyow’s prison on the evening of June 30 after being pardoned by Alyaksandr Lukashenka.

Mr. Lukashenka signed the presidential edict pardoning the ailing lawyer on June 30 after meeting with a visiting delegation of senior US lawmakers.

Mr. Zeltser’s defense counsel had repeatedly said that his client was fully eligible for release under this year’s amnesty law.

The Belarusian authorities, however, delayed a decision on his release. Mr. 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.