English

Zeltser received copy of judgment, Supreme Court head alleges

The chairman of the Supreme Court of Belarus said that American lawyer Emanuel Zeltser imprisoned in Mahilyow had received a copy of the court judgment.

“The report that the court is not giving it [the copy] is false,” the chairman, Valyantsin Sukala, said at a news conference in Minsk on Wednesday.

When reached by BelaPAN, the defense counsel of Mr. Zeltser, Dzmitry Harachka, denied that they had received the decision's copy.

“I do not have a copy of the judgment,” Mr. Harachka said. “Perhaps, they sent it by mail, and it has not yet arrived.”

He said that he applied to the Supreme Court on February 9 for the copy after the Minsk City Court had rejected his request three times without citing any reasons.

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 national 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 and put into the KGB detention center.

The 54-year-old Zeltser, who is suffering a very ill health, is serving the time in Mahilyow`s correctional institution. Washington has repeatedly called for his release on "humanitarian grounds."