Assassination of Alexander Litvinenko: ECHR judges Russia “responsible”, Moscow denies

Published on : 09/21/2021 – 13:16

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled on Tuesday, September 21, Russia “responsible” for the assassination of ex-spy in exile Alexander Litvinenko, poisoned with polonium-210 in the United Kingdom in 2006 , attracting criticism from Moscow, which rejected an “unfounded” judgment.

Seized by the widow of Alexandre Litvinenko, the ECHR is based in particular on the content of the British public inquiry. It concluded in 2016 that Russian President Vladimir Putin had “probably approved” the murder.

Russia has announced that it does not recognize the “unfounded” judgment of the ECHR.

“So far, the investigation has brought no results, so making such allegations is at least unfounded. We are not ready to recognize such a decision,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitri told reporters. Peskov.

“It is unlikely that the ECHR has the powers or the technical capacity” to shed light on this case, he said.

The ECHR ruled on Tuesday that there was “a strong presumption” that the perpetrators of the poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko, appointed by a British investigation, “acted as agents of the Russian state” and that Moscow no ‘had provided no “satisfactory” alternative explanation.

“A mystery covered in darkness”

A former KGB and then FSB agent, Alexandre Litvinenko was dismissed from the Russian security services, then obtained asylum in the United Kingdom in 2001, denouncing corruption and the alleged links of the Russian services with organized crime.

He died on November 23, 2006 as a result of poisoning with polonium-210, an extremely toxic radioactive substance.

In an investigation report published in 2016, the British authorities named the Russians Dmitri Kovtoun and Andreï Lougovoy as the perpetrators of his assassination. Moscow has always refused to extradite them.

Andreï Lougovoi denounced, Tuesday to the Interfax agency, the decision of the ECHR as “illegal” and “politically motivated”, estimating moreover that Russia had “done everything to establish the truth”, but that the British justice n had not followed up on his requests.

Asked by AFP in July, Andrei Lougovoi had assured that this affair would remain “a mystery covered in darkness” and questioned the British secret services which “are doing everything possible so that we never know the truth”.

With AFP