Authorities ignore hunger strike of arrested US citizen

• 19.06.2009, 13:14

The state of health of Emanuel Zeltser has considerably aggravated.

It has been told to BelaPAN by his lawyer, Dzmitry Harachka, who visited his client on June 19.

As said by Harachka, the US citizen has lost weight, but he is set to continue the hunger strike. As we have informed, Zeltser is on hunger strike since June 8. In this way he tries to attract attention to the fact of unjustified dragging out issuing an official document by Minsk city court. Without the document the administration of the colony cannot consider amnestying him.

On June 11 the lawyer sent an appeal to the Supreme Court and to the office of Prosecutor General against actions of Minsk city court. There was no answer yet.

As said by him, Zeltser can be included in the amnesty under the amnesty law, signed by the president of Belarus on May 5. According to the Article 22 of this law an organisation has a right to request for documents before studying the question whether the person could be included into the amnesty. And the requested documents should be sent immediately. However, Mahilyou colony #15 where Zeltser is kept, cannot receive the document from Minsk city court for three weeks already.

Last week the prisoner was visited by a representative of the US Embassy to Belarus. The US still demands immediate release of their citizen on humanitarian grounds, the embassy states.

On august 11, 2008 Minsk city court sentenced Zeltser to 3 years of imprisonments. The US lawyer was found guilty of forged documents use and attempted commercial espionage. The court was held behind the closed doors. Zeltser stays in the medical unit of the colony since his arrival their because of his poor state of health.