MOSCOW, July 22 (RIA Novosti) - UK Home Secretary Theresa May is expected to announce July 22 that a public inquiry will be held into the death of former Russian Federal Security Service agent Alexander Litvinenko, British newspaper The Telegraph reported Monday.
The home secretary will announce the formal investigation of the Litvinenko case in parliament.
In February, widow Marina Litvinenko won a High Court ruling that May should reconsider her decision not to allow a public inquiry.
Coroner Sir Robert Owen, who was conducting the inquest into Litvinenko’s death, proposed a public inquiry as a more appropriate measure instead of an inquest, since it would allow the consideration of sensitive material in private.
However, Home Secretary May rejected Owen’s proposal.
Alexander Litvinenko fled to Britain in 2000 where he was granted asylum after holding a press conference in Moscow, claiming he had been ordered to assassinate the former oligarch Boris Berezovsky. Upon his arrival in London, he also criticized Russian President Vladimir Putin. Just before his death, Litvinenko accused Putin of ordering his assassination, a statement dismissed by the Kremlin.
Litvinenko died in London on November 23, 2006, of poisoning by radioactive polonium-210.
