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American lawyer Zeltser confirms that Belarusian authorities prosecuted him over Georgian billionaire’s assets

American lawyer Emanuel Zeltser who has recently been released from Belarus’ prison confirmed that he had been prosecuted over assets of Badri Patarkatsishvili, the late Georgian billionaire.

In an interview with BelaPAN, Mr. Zeltser said that he had been accused of forging Mr. Patarkatsishvili’s will, with the widow and Russia’s self-exiled oligarch Boris Berezovsky pressing for the charges. “The investigators found a copy of this will on my computer, printed it out and charged me with possessing a forged document,” Mr. Zeltser said, stressing that the will had been authentic.

Mr. Zeltser was a lawyer of the Georgian billionaire.

He and his secretary, Russian citizen Vladlena Funk, were arrested upon their arrival in Minsk in March 2008.

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 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.

Both maintained their innocence.

Mr. Zeltser told BelaPAN that the attempted espionage charge had been brought against him just before the trial. The investigators feared that their forgery case would collapse as a court in Tbilisi then recognized the will as authentic, he said.

Mr. Berezovsky was the main witness for prosecution, Mr. Zeltser said, noting that the oligarch, wanted by Russia, had arrived in Minsk to testify at the hearing.

Mr. Zeltser said that Mr. Berezovsky and “one high-ranking Belarusian official” had been behind his prosecution.

Mr. Patarkatsishvili invested some $200 million in the Belarusian oil-refining industry, he noted.

Mr. Zeltser said that he had no intention to take any legal action against Mr. Berezovsky, expressing confidence that “Russia will have him extradited soon.”

When asked about his imprisonment conditions, the 55-year-old Zeltser, who suffers ill health, said that the denial of vital medical drugs had been a “real torture.” “This seriously affected my condition,” he said.

“They refused to give the medications to me during those 16 months, even after representatives of the US Department of State brought them to your country,” the lawyer said. “Initially, they wanted to prosecute me on charges of drug smuggling, which is why they just couldn’t give me those ‘illegal drugs.” And they also said that the medications were not licensed in Belarus.”

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.