LONDON: The High Court has quashed a decision by the British government not to hold a public inquiry into the murder of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko, who died in London in 2006 after being poisoned with a radioactive substance.
Yesterday’s judgement means the government will have to reconsider the decision, a diplomatically sensitive one as a public inquiry could delve into the issue of whether Russia was involved in the killing. Moscow denies any involvement.
Litvinenko, 43, died after drinking tea poisoned with a rare radioactive isotope, polonium-210, in a plush hotel. From his deathbed he accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of ordering his murder, a charge the Kremlin has rejected.
The High Court stopped short of calling for an inquiry actually to take place, but said that Home Secretary Theresa May, the interior minister who refused to hold a public inquiry, would have to revisit the issue.
“If she is to maintain her refusal, she will need better reasons than those given in the decision letter,” wrote Lord Justice Richards, handing down the unanimous judgment of the three High Court justices who considered the issue. “The case for setting up an immediate statutory inquiry as requested by the Coroner is plainly a strong one.”
UK unions call autumn protest
LONDON: British labour unions will hold a mass demonstration in London in October to demand higher wages, sharpening the focus on falling living standards in the run-up to next year’s election.
The Trades Union Congress, an umbrella group which brought more than a quarter of million people to the streets of the capital in an anti-austerity protest in 2011, said a recovery in Britain’s economy — made much of by the conservative-led coalition government — was passing most people by. “We will only have a recovery fair for all when living standards get back to their pre-crash level. And for that to happen Britain needs a pay rise,” TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady said yesterday.
Agencies
