01/09/09
It sounds like a nightmare, but these are the details laid out in the complaint filed by two Washington, D.C.,
Patton Boggs lawyers late last month (pdf) with the United Nations Human Rights Committee. Patton Boggs was scheduled to file another complaint Thursday with the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Torture.
Last July, four months after his capture, Zeltser was formally convicted in Belarus in a closed-door trial on charges of economic espionage, using false official documents and possession of illegal drugs. He was sentenced to three years in prison. According to the complaint filed with the Human Rights Committee, the drug charge references Zeltser's doctor-prescribed medications. The U.S. State Department and U.S. Embassy in Belarus were denied access to the trial, and Zeltser and his attorneys have been denied access to the formal criminal complaint and conviction against him.
"I wouldn't have thought in the 21st century we'd be doing a James Bond movie like this," says Patton Boggs partner Joseph Brand, who leads Zeltser's representation to the United Nations and calls the case "Kafkaesque," adding, "This is the Soviet Union at its worst."
Brand says the State Department has been "all over" the matter, and Amnesty International is advocating for Zeltser. Patton Boggs lawyers also recruited a dozen U.S. congressmen to sign a letter urging the Belarusian government to release Zeltser, says Brand. So far, Brand says he has not gotten any response from the Belarusian authorities.
