Ex-KGB agent faces Litvinenko charge (From Haringey Independent)

Ex-KGB agent faces Litvinenko charge

2:05pm Tuesday 22nd May 2007 in News By Martina Smit

A former KGB agent should be charged with the poison murder of ex Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko, British prosecutors announced today.

Andrei Lugovoy, who has denied involvement, should be extradited from Russia to face trial for the "extraordinarily grave crime", director of public prosecutions Sir Ken MacDonald said.

Mr Litvinenko, 43, a critic of Russian president Vladimir Putin, died in London in November after he was exposed to the radioactive isotope polonium-210.

Prime minister Tony Blair backed calls for Mr Lugovoy's extradition, but a Kremlin spokesman said the Russian constitution would not allow it.

The murder has strained diplomatic relationships between the two countries over the last six months.

On his death bed, Mr Litvinenko accused the Russian president of being responsible for his death - a claim the Kremlin rejected.

He was granted political asylum in Britain in 2000 and went on to become a British citizen, settling down in Muswell Hill, north London.

Today Sir Ken told a press conference: "I have concluded that the evidence sent to us by the police is sufficient to charge Andrei Lugovoy 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."

Mr Lugovoy met Mr Litvinenko at the Millennium Hotel in Grosvenor Square, London, on November 1 last year - the day he fell ill.

Counter-terrorism officers from the Metropolitan Police interviewed Mr Lugovoy in Moscow, where he lives, but he claimed he was innocent.

The detectives followed a trial of polonium radioactivity left at various London locations visited by Mr Litvinenko and those he met before he died.

Traces were also found on aeroplanes, leading police to Moscow.

Mr Litvinenko suffered for 22 days before he died from acute radiation at University College Hospital in London.

Police passed the file of evidence to the Crime Prosecution Service (CPS) in January.

Today Sir Ken said he had instructed CPS lawyers seek an early extradition of Mr Lugovoy from Russia to "be brought swiftly before a court in London".

Mr Litvinenko's widow Marina said it was "big news" for her, although she thought others were involved too.

"I am now very anxious to see that justice is really done and that Mr Lugovoy is extradited and brought to trial in a UK court."

The trail should be heard in Britain, not Russia, she added.

A spokesman of the Russian general prosecution service said there was "no way" Mr Lugovoy could be extradited under his country's constitution.

But he added that a Russian citizen accused of a crime elsewhere "should be prosecuted in Russia with evidence provided by the foreign state".

Russia signed up to the European Convention on Extradition in 2001.

Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett said she had told the Russian ambassador she expected "full co-operation".

Mr Blair's spokesman added that Britain would "not in any way shy away" from ensuring that justice prevailed.

"Nobody should be under any doubt as to the seriousness with which we are taking this case."