Putin's Russia
The Guardian reports on the public inquiry into the murder of Alexander Litvinenko, a crime which could only have been committed by people with access to the kind of high-level, high-tech support that is normally the preserve of national Governments.
The main suspect in the case, Andrej Lugovoi, was taken under the protective wing of Vladimir Putin when he returned to Russia and quickly became an the equivalent of an MP in the Russian Duma (national Parliament) which means he cannot under any circumstances be extradited to the UK.
So it will be interesting to see if Andrej Lugovoi and Dimitry Kovtun give evidence to the public inquiry by video link.
Litvinenko postmortem ‘most dangerous ever in western world’
Inquiry hears from lead pathologist who examined Russian’s body after his death from polonium-210 poisoning in 2006
The postmortem examination of the body of Alexander Litvinenko was “one of the most dangerous postmortems ever undertaken in the western world” because of the risk of radiative contamination, the inquiry into his death has been told.
Dr Nathaniel Cary, the lead pathologist who examined Litvinenko’s body following his death from radioactive polonium-210 poisoning in November 2006, said he and other officials examining the corpse had worn not one but two protective suits, two pairs of gloves taped at the wrists, and large, battery-operated plastic hoods into which filtered air was piped.
Along with a second pathologist, a police detective constable and a photographer, also wearing similar protective clothing, he was accompanied by an advisor from the institute of naval medicine and a radiation protection officer, who monitored any speckles of blood on the protective clothing, wiping them away and checking for traces of alpha radiation.
London ambulance staff observed the procedure from outside the room, said Cary, a consultant forensic pathologist, because “it would have been a disaster if anyone had fainted or had an acute medical problem” while examining the body. In contrast to standard postmortems, where there may be an option to carry out a second examination of the body, Cary said that “this was such a dangerous postmortem exam to carry out that you only really want to do it once if at all possible.”
Alexander Litvinenko’s son, Anatoly, on his father’s murder: ‘He was trying to make Russia a better place’
He added: “It has been described as one of the most dangerous postmortem examinations ever undertaken in the western world, and I think that’s probably right.”
Polonium-210 emits alpha radiation, he said, which unlike gamma radiation is not highly penetrative. However “the real danger is that it gets into your body, because [the alpha rays] go on emitting for quite a long time, which of course when it’s in your body it’s distributed around your body, and any cell next to where it’s distributed is badly affected by the continuous bombardment of alpha rays.”
He was not aware, he said, of any other case of polonium poisoning in the UK.
In the presence of Marina Litvinenko, the dead man’s widow, Cary said that after the Russian died on 23 November 2006, shortly after radioactive polonium poisoning was confirmed, the intensive care unit in which he had been treated at University College hospital in London was sealed, and the medical equipment left exactly as it had been at the moment of his death.
The Russian was initially admitted to Barnet and Chase Farm hospital in north London on 3 November, the inquiry heard, and was initially diagnosed with a gastrointestinal infection and treated with antibiotics. The inquiry has previously heard that detectives believe Litvinenko had consumed the poison two days earlier, on 1 November, after drinking tea that had been laced with the toxin.
Within days he had lost his hair and developed pancytopenia, which the pathologist described as “a loss of all the cellular elements in the circulating blood”. A bone marrow biopsy on 16 November showed bone marrow failure, after which he was transferred to the haematology unit at University College hospital in central London.
His liver and kidney function deteriorated, and on 22 November he suffered a cardio-respiratory arrest. The following day he died, following another similar arrest.
Recognising that the testimony might be distressing for Marina Litvinenko, the inquiry chairman, Sir Robert Owen, offered her the option of leaving the court. Her barrister, Ben Emmerson QC, said he had discussed the matter with her and “she wants to be present for all the evidence”.
Reading from his conclusions following the postmortem, Cary said: “From the findings it is apparent that Mr Litvinenko ingested a large quantity of polonium 210 on or around 1 November 2006, largely, if not wholly, by oral ingestion rather than by inhalation. The calculated amount absorbed was far in excess of known survivability limits.”
Separately, Sir Robert Owen, inquiry chairman, was told that Andrej Lugovoi, one of two men whose extradition is sought from Russia over the killing, spoke on Tuesday to Russian media to declare the inquiry a politically motivated “judicial farce” that had been revived by the British government in response to the Ukrainian crisis.
Speaking to an interviewer from Echo of Moscow, Ben Emmerson QC told the court, Lugovoi said: “I don’t have expectations, this is an old story.” The process had been suspended when the British Foreign Secretary and home secretary refused to disclose secret materials, he said, “but when the situation in Ukraine had kicked off and the UK’s geographical interests had likely begun to change they had decided to dust off the mothballs and commence these proceedings.
“Once the materials have been made secret, I said in 2013 that I would no longer participate in this judicial farce, that’s it.”
He was pressed for clarification by the interviewer and said: “What I mean is we want [the killing] to be investigated but we want the inquiry to be objective. Moreover we want the inquiry to take place in Russia.”
In response to the suggestion that the inquiry was politically motivated and had been put in place in response to the Ukraine conflict, Owen told the court that when he formally opened the inquiry on July 31 last year “there had been lengthy discussions as to my terms of reference which had preceded the situation as it evolved in the Ukraine. That is a matter of importance.”
In contrast to Lugovoi’s statement to another journalist that he had not been invited to take part in the inquiry, Emmerson said, the chairman had expressed the hope that both Lugovoi and Dmitry Kovtun, the other prime suspect, would give evidence by video link.
“I was careful to express the hope rather than the expectation,” noted Owen.
Litvinenko postmortem ‘most dangerous ever in western world’
Inquiry hears from lead pathologist who examined Russian’s body after his death from polonium-210 poisoning in 2006
The postmortem examination of the body of Alexander Litvinenko was “one of the most dangerous postmortems ever undertaken in the western world” because of the risk of radiative contamination, the inquiry into his death has been told.
Dr Nathaniel Cary, the lead pathologist who examined Litvinenko’s body following his death from radioactive polonium-210 poisoning in November 2006, said he and other officials examining the corpse had worn not one but two protective suits, two pairs of gloves taped at the wrists, and large, battery-operated plastic hoods into which filtered air was piped.
Along with a second pathologist, a police detective constable and a photographer, also wearing similar protective clothing, he was accompanied by an advisor from the institute of naval medicine and a radiation protection officer, who monitored any speckles of blood on the protective clothing, wiping them away and checking for traces of alpha radiation.
London ambulance staff observed the procedure from outside the room, said Cary, a consultant forensic pathologist, because “it would have been a disaster if anyone had fainted or had an acute medical problem” while examining the body. In contrast to standard postmortems, where there may be an option to carry out a second examination of the body, Cary said that “this was such a dangerous postmortem exam to carry out that you only really want to do it once if at all possible.”
Alexander Litvinenko’s son, Anatoly, on his father’s murder: ‘He was trying to make Russia a better place’
He added: “It has been described as one of the most dangerous postmortem examinations ever undertaken in the western world, and I think that’s probably right.”
Polonium-210 emits alpha radiation, he said, which unlike gamma radiation is not highly penetrative. However “the real danger is that it gets into your body, because [the alpha rays] go on emitting for quite a long time, which of course when it’s in your body it’s distributed around your body, and any cell next to where it’s distributed is badly affected by the continuous bombardment of alpha rays.”
He was not aware, he said, of any other case of polonium poisoning in the UK.
In the presence of Marina Litvinenko, the dead man’s widow, Cary said that after the Russian died on 23 November 2006, shortly after radioactive polonium poisoning was confirmed, the intensive care unit in which he had been treated at University College hospital in London was sealed, and the medical equipment left exactly as it had been at the moment of his death.
The Russian was initially admitted to Barnet and Chase Farm hospital in north London on 3 November, the inquiry heard, and was initially diagnosed with a gastrointestinal infection and treated with antibiotics. The inquiry has previously heard that detectives believe Litvinenko had consumed the poison two days earlier, on 1 November, after drinking tea that had been laced with the toxin.
Within days he had lost his hair and developed pancytopenia, which the pathologist described as “a loss of all the cellular elements in the circulating blood”. A bone marrow biopsy on 16 November showed bone marrow failure, after which he was transferred to the haematology unit at University College hospital in central London.
His liver and kidney function deteriorated, and on 22 November he suffered a cardio-respiratory arrest. The following day he died, following another similar arrest.
Recognising that the testimony might be distressing for Marina Litvinenko, the inquiry chairman, Sir Robert Owen, offered her the option of leaving the court. Her barrister, Ben Emmerson QC, said he had discussed the matter with her and “she wants to be present for all the evidence”.
Reading from his conclusions following the postmortem, Cary said: “From the findings it is apparent that Mr Litvinenko ingested a large quantity of polonium 210 on or around 1 November 2006, largely, if not wholly, by oral ingestion rather than by inhalation. The calculated amount absorbed was far in excess of known survivability limits.”
Separately, Sir Robert Owen, inquiry chairman, was told that Andrej Lugovoi, one of two men whose extradition is sought from Russia over the killing, spoke on Tuesday to Russian media to declare the inquiry a politically motivated “judicial farce” that had been revived by the British government in response to the Ukrainian crisis.
Speaking to an interviewer from Echo of Moscow, Ben Emmerson QC told the court, Lugovoi said: “I don’t have expectations, this is an old story.” The process had been suspended when the British Foreign Secretary and home secretary refused to disclose secret materials, he said, “but when the situation in Ukraine had kicked off and the UK’s geographical interests had likely begun to change they had decided to dust off the mothballs and commence these proceedings.
“Once the materials have been made secret, I said in 2013 that I would no longer participate in this judicial farce, that’s it.”
He was pressed for clarification by the interviewer and said: “What I mean is we want [the killing] to be investigated but we want the inquiry to be objective. Moreover we want the inquiry to take place in Russia.”
In response to the suggestion that the inquiry was politically motivated and had been put in place in response to the Ukraine conflict, Owen told the court that when he formally opened the inquiry on July 31 last year “there had been lengthy discussions as to my terms of reference which had preceded the situation as it evolved in the Ukraine. That is a matter of importance.”
In contrast to Lugovoi’s statement to another journalist that he had not been invited to take part in the inquiry, Emmerson said, the chairman had expressed the hope that both Lugovoi and Dmitry Kovtun, the other prime suspect, would give evidence by video link.
“I was careful to express the hope rather than the expectation,” noted Owen.
