LONDON
The ongoing public inquiry into the death of a former Russian spy who died from radiation poisoning in 2006 in London has revealed that he may have been given radioactive poison twice or even more.
In a revelation made on the first day of the inquiry at the high court in London on Tuesday, Queen’s Counsel Robin Tam said evidence showed that Alexander Litvinenko was poisoned "not once, but twice." The first attempt took place on Oct. 16, 2006, in central London’s Grosvenor Street, where Litvinenko met his alleged assassins Andrei Lugovoi and Dmitry Kovtun. This attempt made the former KGB spy a little ill. The second attempt, which proved to be fatal, took place on Nov. 1, 2006, at a hotel in London.
Queen's Counsel Ben Emmerson, who represents Litvinenko’s widow, Marina, said that the former agent had been a victim of a "horrifying" political assassination.
Emmerson alleged that the Russian state was behind the former spy’s murder because he threatened to make public what he has said were "links" between Russian President Vladimir Putin and organized crime groups in Europe. Litvinenko, 43, himself told police on his death bed that he believed Putin ordered his poisoning.
The counsel also said that beyond any "reasonable doubt" Lugovoi and Kovtun were the killers.
This is not the first time that the widow, Mariana, has alleged that the Russian state itself is behind the murder. Moscow has repeatedly denied any involvement.
Investigators suspect Litvinenko might have been poisoned two or maybe even three times with radioactive polonium 210 found in hotel rooms where the two suspected killers stayed in London. Forensic analysis of Litvinenko's hair and the table where he drank the tea at the hotel too showed big amounts of the deadly substance.
Sir Robert Owen, the chair of the inquiry indicated that the inquiry could last 10 weeks and would cover Litvinenko's life before and after he left Russia and moved to London.
Litvinenko had moved to London with his family to seek asylum and also later worked for U.K.'s spy agency, MI6.
This is not the first time a Russian spy has come under the spotlight. Another Russian spy case that has surfaced recently in the media is that of Evgeny Buryakov, who was arrested by U.S. authorities on charges of gathering intelligence along with two former employees of Russia’s diplomatic mission in New York.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement Tuesday evening that Buryakov was only a deputy representative of the Vnesheconombank in the U.S. and termed the spying charges as a tactic to build up "spy hysteria."
"No evidence to support such allegations was presented," the statement said.
