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Alexander Litvinenko lawyer points finger at Putin as inquiry ends

Lawyer for family of spy poisoned in London in 2006 labels Russian president a ‘tinpot despot’ and asks judge to formally implicate him in murder

The family of poisoned spy Alexander Litvinenko have made a final plea to the judge presiding over the inquiry into his death to formally implicate Vladimir Putin in his murder.

On the last day of the exhaustive public inquiry, Ben Emmerson QC, representing Litvinenko’s widow, Marina, and son Anatoly, said the evidence heard proves Putin personally ordered the murder of the Russian dissident on the streets of London.

Emmerson struck out at the Russian president, labelling him a “tinpot despot” and lamenting his “cringing hard-man photo opportunities”, and urged the inquiry to identify him as being behind Litvinenko’s death.

Vladimir Putin stands accused of this murder on the best evidence that is ever likely to be available.
Litvinenko, a former FSB and KGB spy who worked for British secret service MI6 during his time in the UK, died aged 43 at University College hospital nearly three weeks after drinking tea laced with polonium-210 on 1 November 2006 at the Millennium hotel in Grosvenor Square, London.
He had been in the company of Russian contacts Andrei Lugovoi and Dmitry Kovtun, the prime suspects in the murder, who have evaded arrest and trial in the UK.

The inquiry was presented with detailed scientific evidence of what was dubbed the polonium trail – a long list of locations and items contaminated with the radioactive substance and linked to the movements of Lugovoi and Kovtun on three visits to London.
On Thursday, lawyers for Scotland Yard contended that Lugovoi and Kovtun were a couple of ignorant and common murderers – and the Russian state was behind the death of Litvinenko, a dissident who campaigned relentlessly against Russian state corruption and organised crime.
The police force, however, was more cautious about implicating Putin directly, arguing Russian state liability did not necessarily mean the president was accountable.
But in his closing speech, Emmerson said there was enough evidence to conclude Putin was responsible for the murder.

“When the evidence is viewed in the round, as it must be, it establishes Russian state responsibility for Alexander Litvinenko’s murder beyond reasonable doubt,” he said. “And if the Russian state is responsible, Vladimir Putin is responsible.

Marina Litvinenko was killed by agents of the Russian state in the first ever act of nuclear terrorism on the streets of London.
“Not on some analogical version of vicarious liability but because he personally ordered the liquidation of an enemy who was bent on exposing him and his cronies.
“An operation as significant as killing a high-profile dissident in London, who had the protection of the British government and who was a British citizen, using a highly dangerous radioactive isotope, would require the personal authorisation of President Putin.”

Emmerson rehearsed some of the key reasonsto put Putin under suspicion, including the polonium’s origins in Russia, Lugovoi’s links to the FSB and similarities with several other political assassinations in Russia.

He told the inquiry Putin was motivated by revenge and the need to prevent further damning disclosures about the Kremlin – Litvinenko had already exposed links between Putin and organised crime in two books.

was killed by agents of the Russian state in the first ever act of nuclear terrorism on the streets of London

Marina Litvinenko

“Not on some analogical version of vicarious liability but because he personally ordered the liquidation of an enemy who was bent on exposing him and his cronies.

“An operation as significant as killing a high-profile dissident in London, who had the protection of the British government and who was a British citizen, using a highly dangerous radioactive isotope, would require the personal authorisation of President Putin.”

Emmerson rehearsed some of the key reasonsto put Putin under suspicion, including the polonium’s origins in Russia, Lugovoi’s links to the FSB and similarities with several other political assassinations in Russia.

He told the inquiry Putin was motivated by revenge and the need to prevent further damning disclosures about the Kremlin – Litvinenko had already exposed links between Putin and organised crime in two books.
Addressing the inquiry chairman, Sir Robert Owen, he continued: “First, you can be sure on the criminal standard that Lugovoi and Kovtun murdered Mr Litvinenko. Secondly, that you can be sure that they were sent by officials within the Russian state to do this. Thirdly, that cannot conceivably have happened without Vladimir Putin’s authority.”

Emmerson hit out at Putin’s decision in March to award Lugovoi a medal for services to Russia. Since Litvinenko’s death, the suspect has enjoyed a meteoric rise in Russian politics. “It was a crass and clumsy gesture from an increasingly isolated tinpot despot – a morally deranged authoritarian who was at that very moment clinging desperately on to political power in the face of international sanctions and a rising chorus of international condemnation,” he said.
“After years of negotiation and appeasement, the world has lost patience now with Mr Putin’s judo politics and his cringing, hard man photo opportunities. He is increasingly seen as a dangerous international menace: corrupt, vindictive and lethal – badly advised, lacking in political judgment, a threat to international peace and security, a liability to his own people and to Russia itself.”