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Emmanuel Zeltser was pardoned by decree. |
US lawyer freed from Belarus prison
Reuters
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July 1, 2009
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MINSK, Belarus - A US lawyer, jailed in Belarus for industrial espionage, walked free yesterday after being pardoned by President Alexander Lukashenko in a gesture aimed at improving poor ties with Washington.
The release of Emmanuel Zeltser, who was serving a three-year term and had spent more than a year in prison, has long been demanded by the US State Department on health grounds.
His continued imprisonment was one of many sticking points in years of difficult ties culminating last year in the departure from Minsk of the US ambassador.
Lukashenko, long accused of infringing human rights in the former Soviet state, has been trying to improve relations with the West for two years, especially the European Union.
The president’s press service said Zeltser, jailed last year at the height of a diplomatic row, had been pardoned by decree. Lukashenko had earlier met a US congressional delegation.
“As this is important for America and our relations and will help create a normalization of our relations, I am signing this decree today,’’ Lukashenko’s press service quoted him as saying.
In the evening, Zeltser, 55, walked free from the prison in the eastern town of Mogilyov, an eyewitness said.
“He walked out accompanied by prison staff and representatives of the [US] Embassy,’’ Nikolai Titov, a local photographer, said.
© Copyright 2009 Globe Newspaper Company.
