Britain does U-turn on ex-KGB agent Litvinenko murder inquiry

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22-07-2014 | 05:26
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Britain does U-turn on ex-KGB agent Litvinenko murder inquiry
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Britain does U-turn on ex-KGB agent Litvinenko murder inquiry
Britain on Tuesday overturned its decision not to hold a public inquiry into the death of former KGB spy Alexander Litvinenko, who accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of ordering his murder from his London deathbed in 2006.        

A year ago, the British government rejected a request for an inquiry into the killing of Litvinenko, who died after drinking tea poisoned with a rare radioactive isotope in a plush London hotel, leading to accusations it wanted to appease the Kremlin which has always denied any involvement in the death.       

The reversal of that decision comes as Prime Minister David Cameron leads calls for hard-hitting sanctions against Russia, including freezing the assets of Putin's close allies, after the downing of Malaysian airliner MH17 in Ukraine last week.         

Cameron's office would not comment on the timing of the announcement but sources told the BBC it was a coincidence, coming on the day before parliament rose for its summer break.       

An inquiry may well strain Anglo-Russian relations further, having mirrored diplomatic ties between the two for years.         

"It is more than seven years since Mr Litvinenko's death, and I very much hope that this inquiry will be of some comfort to his widow," Britain's interior minister Theresa May.       

The inquiry would be chaired by judge Robert Owen, who was the coroner in charge of an inquest into Litvinenko's death, and who has said there was evidence indicating Russian involvement in the murder, Home Secretary May said in a statement.         

Owen himself had called for an inquiry saying an inquest - a British legal process held in cases of violent or unnatural deaths - could not get to the truth because he could not consider secret evidence held by the British government.        


REUTERS
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