Mark Zeltser: "I still fear for my brother's fate"

Several hours before Emmanuel Zeltser arrives in the United States, the European Radio for Belarus had an exclusive interview with his brother Mark Zeltser. During the conversation, Mark was on his way to the airport and admitted that he was both excited and alarmed over Emmanuel's further fate. Euroradio: It has become clear that the hunt for Badri Patarkatsishvili's money stands behind the whole story about Emmanuel who was his lawyer. You call Boris Berezovski as the main hunter. Do you fear that the hunt for the money will continue and Emmanuel will still be in danger?

Mark Zeltser: You have asked a very very right question. Now that he has been freed, will he continue to fight? I don't know. I have not spoken to him yet; he has not arrived yet. But he is a very prominent and serious lawyer. I don't know if he continues to deal with this case or not.

You know, Badri left his last will. He left money for his family: 25 percent to each of the two wives: 5 or 10 percent for each of his children, etc. Neither Berezovski nor Emmanuel nor Joseph Cay are naturally not mentioned in the last will. My brother dealth with this case, because Badri was his client for the past 14 years. Eventually, he suffered, because Berezovski decided that half of the money if not all the money belonged to him.

I did not know Badri, Berezovski or Cay. They are fighting for some crazy money. I need my brother to be fine. My opinion and my advice is that he should not think about the past; he should close this chapter and start thinking about the future and not do anything else. We know about the incident in Belarus; it jad no legal grounds. The same is about Berezovski. He did not like something; he put his friend on a plane and sent to Belarus so that he could disappear there. Next time, it will a bullet in the head.

If I cannot wrestle with a man (when he is in a different weight category as my conservatorium professor put it), what can I do? I am not a killer; I am not a criminal; I will not shoot at him. But he can. These are not equal forces! Russian, British law-enforcement agencies (who keep Berezovski in exile) must have been involved. Belarus is also involved because it was supposed to extradite Berezovski. But this is something to be decided by my brother, not me. But I will advise him not to get involved”.


To be continued on Euroradio's web site on:
— what medical statement about his brother health condition Mark Zeltser received from prison doctors in Belarus;
— how Emmanuel ended up in Belarus, in the view of Mark Zeltser;
— how much money Mark spent to try to free his brother.


Photo: Mark Zeltser (L) (vborbeprotiv-zeltsera)