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Chekist Accused in Murder of Litvinenko
The murder of Alexander Litvinenko, a Russian spy turned dissident and exiled to London, by exposing him to Polonium 210 was a spy-novel classic. The fact that British investigators have determined that Andrei Lugovoi, an ex-KGB officer, should be charged adds to the Cold War mood of the case. Relations between Britain and Russia are about to get colder still since the British have asked for Mr. Lugovoi’s extradition and since the Russian constitution prevents that. It’s like old times again.
Sir Ken Macdonald, QC, is Director of Public Prosecutions of England and Wales and is ex officio head of the Crown Prosecution Service. He issued a statement that read in part,
On 23 November 2006 Mr Litvinenko died in a London hospital of acute radiation injury. He was found to have ingested a lethal dose of Polonium 210, a highly radioactive material. During his difficult, fatal illness and following his death, the Metropolitan Police Service in London conducted a careful investigation into how this had happened. Among the people of interest to police in this inquiry was a Russian citizen named Andrei Lugovoi . . . .
I have today concluded that the evidence sent to us by the police is sufficient to charge Andrei Lugovoi with the murder of Mr Litvinenko by deliberate poisoning. I have further concluded that a prosecution of this case would clearly be in the public interest. In those circumstances, I have instructed CPS lawyers to take immediate steps to seek the early extradition of Andrei Lugovoi from Russia to the United Kingdom, so that he may be charged with murder - and be brought swiftly before a court in London to be prosecuted for this extraordinarily grave crime.”
The Russians aren’t going to cooperate. “A Russian citizen, who committed a crime on the territory of a foreign state, can upon presentation of material by this state, be called into criminal account on the territory of Russia only,” Marina Gridneva, an official spokeswoman for the Russian Office of the Prosecutor General, said as quoted by Interfax. Mr. Luguvoi “should be prosecuted in Russia with evidence provided by the foreign state.” Kangaroos may not be indigenous to Russia, but kangaroo courts there have a long history. There would be no justice in such an exercise.
If the Brits are smart, they will not press the extradition matter. Rather, they will come to an agreement with the Russians. Mr. Lugovoi voluntarily returns to the UK to stand trial, and if convicted, he is permitted to serve his sentence in a Russian prison. The Russian authorities will rapidly free him once he’s home, and the matter will be at an end. There isn’t much else that can be done, and the temptation to type “Soviet” rather than “Russian” is overwhelming.
© Copyright 2007 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.
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