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Press Releases
Patton Boggs LLP Files United Nations Complaint Against Belarus: Defense of American Lawyer in KGB Prison
January 6, 2009
Washington, DC — Patton Boggs has filed an urgent complaint with the United Nations Human Rights Committee alleging that the Belarusian government is violating the civil and political rights of Emanuel Zeltser, an American citizen who has been arbitrarily detained since his mysterious arrival in Belarus on March 12, 2008.
Mr. Zeltser, a 55-year-old New York resident, recalls only that on March 12, 2008, he was sipping coffee at a café in London. His next memory is waking up and finding himself on a private plane bound for a KGB-monitored detention center in Minsk, according to the 21-page document filed with the United Nations demanding his immediate release.
Over the past nine months, Mr. Zeltser has faced physical beatings, inhumane and unsanitary treatment, according to the complaint. Belarusian authorities have continuously withheld physician-prescribed medications to treat his debilitating diabetes, heart problems and severe arthritis. At one point, they even withheld a mattress. A witness said his handcuffs were so tight that there was “no blood circulation,” according to the complaint.
On August 11, 2008, Mr. Zeltser was convicted of “using false official documents” and economic espionage during a closed-door secret trial. Mr. Zeltser’s health had declined to the point that he lost the ability to walk, and the Belarusian police had to carry him into his clandestine trial.
Mr. Zeltser is now in dire health in a penal colony in Mogilev, Belarus. Dr. Albert Benchabbat, a Board certified physician who was allowed to examine Mr. Zeltser in June reported that Mr. Zeltser is unlikely to survive in current conditions and deprived of his vital medications.
“An American citizen is in a KGB prison after a closed trial in the 21st Century… it’s Kafkaesque,” said Joseph Brand, who is leading the Patton Boggs legal team’s effort to free Mr. Zeltser. Patton Boggs was retained by Mr. Zeltser's brother, Mark, to advocate for his immediate release. The complaint alleges that Belarus is violating its obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
“Mr. Zeltser’s human rights have been violated across the board, as our filing before the Human Rights Committee show a bogus trial, trumped up charges, no rights to examine his accusers, even a denial of his meds, and the American doctor who examined him said he would not survive without them,” Brand said.
The State Department and the leading members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, including the chairman and the ranking member of the Europe subcommittee, have called for Mr. Zeltser’s prompt release.
“Mr. Zeltser remains captive after over eight months of urgent cries of outrage from the U.S. government and the international community at Belarus’ blatant disregard for its international obligations,” said Kristen Jarvis Johnson, a Patton Boggs lawyer working on the case.
“Through the use of physical and mental torture, life-threatening withholding of vital medications, and a secret trial, Belarus has violated Mr. Zeltser’s rights to humanitarian treatment and due process,” Johnson said.
To read more, click the links below:
http://naviny.by/rubrics/inter/2008/12/23/ic_articles_259_160483/
http://naviny.by/rubrics/inter/2008/12/11/ic_articles_259_160308/
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