UK coroner vows inquiry into Litvinenko death

‘Inquest will be full, fearless’

LONDON, Feb 27, (RTRS): ABritish coroner said on Wednesday he would hold an open and “fearless” inquiry into the murder in 2006 of former KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko after Britain asked for sensitive information about the death to be kept secret.

Litvinenko, 43, who had been granted British citizenship and had become a vocal critic of Russian leader Vladimir Putin, died after someone slipped polonium-210, a rare radioactive isotope, into his cup of tea at a plush London hotel.

At a pre-inquest hearing on Tuesday, lawyers for the British government argued information it held should be subject to a public interest immunity (PII) certificate, barring disclosure which they said would seriously harm national security.

The lawyer for Litvinenko’s family argued Britain was trying to hide details of his work for its MI6 intelligence service, and material which showed Russia was behind his death, because London wanted to protect lucrative Russian trade deals.

Ties between Britain and Russia fell to a post-Cold War low in the immediate aftermath of Litvinenko’s death, but British Prime Minister David Cameron has tried to improve relations and strengthen business links since coming to power in 2010.

The coroner, High Court judge Robert Owen, ruled he would go ahead with private hearings to consider the government’s request, but said he would only allow material to be kept secret where that served the public interest better than disclosure.

He promised the PII request from British Foreign Secretary William Hague would be “subjected to the most stringent and critical examination”.

“It is my duty to carry out a full, fearless and independent investigation into the circumstances of the death of Mr Litvinenko. That, I intend to do,” Owen told Wednesday’s hearing at London’s Royal Courts of Justice.

“(The inquest) will be conducted with the greatest possible degree of openness and transparency,” Owen said.