BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

30/06/2009

Belarus leader pardons lawyer in gesture to U.S.

By Andrei Makhovsky

MINSK (Reuters) - A U.S. lawyer, jailed in Belarus for industrial espionage, walked free Tuesday 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 U.S. 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 U.S. ambassador.

Lukashenko, long accused of infringing human rights in the ex-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 U.S. 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, Zelster, 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 (U.S) embassy," Nikolai Titov, a local photographer, told Reuters from outside the prison.

"He had a bag and was wearing sports clothing. He got into an embassy car and went off."

After meeting the Congressmen, Lukashenko had restated that U.S. sanctions against Belarus had to be rescinded before full relations could be restored.

CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATION

But delegation leader Benjamin Cardin, a Democratic senator from Maryland, said Lukashenko had raised the possibility of Zeltser being released later in the day.

"We were very happy to hear from the president that he intends to release Zeltser," Cardin, chairman of the Senate Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, told a news conference. "We hope it will happen sometime today.

Chris Smith, a Republican Congressman from New Jersey, said the delegation had been forthright.

"We made it clear that Belarus has to meet international norms in terms of human rights," he said, adding members had stressed that "words are good, but actions are more important."

Lukashenko has moved closer to the West since quarrelling with traditional ally Russia in 2007 over energy prices.

The European Union has responded by lifting an entry ban on the president and other officials imposed after allegations that Lukashenko had rigged his re-election in 2006.

But U.S. punitive measures against Belarussian companies, including a ban on operations with oil company Belfneftkhim, remain in place. The post of U.S. ambassador remains vacant.

"We are ready to return to a discussion on a complete restoration of a mutual diplomatic presence on condition that economic sanctions against our country be lifted in full," Lukashenko told the Congressmen.

The decree was the latest of several concessions, including the release of detainees deemed political prisoners and an election declared to be an improvement over earlier contests.

In addition to lifting the visa ban, the EU has included Belarus in its "Eastern Partnership" scheme aimed at helping ex-communist countries. Belarus last week formally asked the 27-nation EU for financial assistance.

Zeltser was sentenced in August last year -- four months after arriving in Belarus to represent Josef Kay, a relative of late Georgian businessman Badri Patarkatsishili. He was also found guilty of carrying forged documents.

Zeltser, who staged a hunger strike briefly this month, underwent treatment for a back ailment last year.

(Writing by Ron Popeski; Editing by Richard Balmforth)

Source:

http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSTRE55T6PD20090630?feedType=RSS&feedName=domesticNews

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