MI5 ORDERED TO REVEAL LINKS TO MURDERED RUSSIAN SPY
MI5 and MI6 have been ordered to hand over any secret documents concerning their alleged relationship with murdered Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko, poisoned with radioactive polonium in 2006.
The evidence will form part of a wide-ranging investigation into allegations that Mr Litvinenko was killed by the Russian state while he was working for the British security services.
The request has been made by Dr Andrew Reid, the St Pancras coroner, who is conducting the inquest into Mr Litvinenko’s death. He has agreed to consider allegations that Mr Litvinenko was murdered because of his outspoken criticism of Vladimir Putin.
The coroner’s preliminary judgment, leaked to The Mail on Sunday, also outlines security fears over the inquest. And he raises the possibility of turning the proceedings into a full-blown public inquiry, headed by a senior judge, in which evidence from MI5 and MI6 can be considered in secret. A Government source last week revealed that work had begun to find the best way to bring all the relevant evidence before the coroner.
In October, Mr Litvinenko’s widow Marina told The Mail on Sunday her husband had worked for MI5 and MI6 and was paid tens of thousands of pounds. It is believed he helped in combating Russian criminal gangs working in Europe. Mrs Litvinenko had previously denied her husband’s links to British security services out of loyalty to her husband, but now wants the inquiry to investigate all events leading up to what she calls a ‘Russian statesponsored execution’.
Mr Litvinenko, 43, fell ill after drinking tea at a London hotel meeting with former KGB contacts and died at University College Hospital.
His death and Russia’s subse- quent refusal to send the prime suspect – former KGB agent Andrei Lugovoi – for trial in the UK has resulted in relations between Moscow and London sinking to a new low. But in his statement, Dr Reid says: ‘The public interest demands an investigation into the alleged criminal role of the Russian state.’
And Dr Reid calls for the inquest to be held in an ‘appropriately secure’ venue, saying Mr Litvinenko’s alleged links to MI5 and MI6 are a matter of ‘legitimate inquiry’ and may lead to the disclosure of secret wire taps of the Russian’s phone and emails.
‘I accept this issue may be a powerful consideration in favour of a senior judicial figure conducting the inquest,’ he says. ‘The inquiry will extend beyond the mechanical circumstances of death. If Mr Litvinenko is shown to have died as a result of ingestion of Polonium 210, the public interest plainly demands an open and fearless investigation into the full circumstances, including how and why this fatal ingestion occurred.
‘Any lesser level of inquiry would not command public confidence either nationally or internationally.’
(©Daily Mail, London)