This article is from the source 'bbc' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-22574761
The article has changed 9 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 0 | Version 1 |
|---|---|
| Litvinenko inquest in doubt after evidence ruling | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| The inquest into the death of former KGB spy Alexander Litvinenko is in doubt after the coroner ruled he could not consider evidence on whether the Russian state ordered the killing. | |
| It could now be replaced with a form of public inquiry which can hear evidence in secret. | It could now be replaced with a form of public inquiry which can hear evidence in secret. |
| The 43-year-old died from radioactive poisoning in London 2006. | |
| Sir Robert Owen said the inquest could not take evidence on the Russian state on grounds of national security. | |
| He said he now wanted to hear submissions from all parties, including Mr Litvinenko's widow and son, on the proposed semi-secret inquiry. | |
| The ruling came after an application from Foreign Secretary William Hague to keep some evidence secret. | The ruling came after an application from Foreign Secretary William Hague to keep some evidence secret. |
| The coroner also agreed to exclude any material relating to whether the British security and intelligence services could have prevented Mr Litinenko's death. | The coroner also agreed to exclude any material relating to whether the British security and intelligence services could have prevented Mr Litinenko's death. |
| 'Fair and fearless' | |
| Mr Litvinenko died after he had been poisoned with polonium-210 while drinking tea at a London meeting. | |
| He was working for MI6 alongside Spanish spies in the days before his death. | |
| Police have sought the arrest of two Russian nationals in relation to the death - Andrei Lugovoy and Dmitri Kovtun - but the Russian authorities have refused to hand them over. | |
| The inquest has already faced major delays because both the UK and Russian governments have been slow to disclose documents. | |
| In a pre-inquest hearing, Foreign Secretary William Hague asked Sir Robert to exclude material from the eventual hearing under a power called Public Interest Immunity. | |
| The PII process allows ministers to ask courts to withhold information from a hearing if its disclosure could be damaging to national security. | |
| In a ruling, Sir Robert said that he had partly agreed to Mr Hague's request for secrecy in relation to the role of the Russian state and what UK agencies may have known. | |
| He added: "My decision to uphold the PICC claim in relation to material relevant to the issue I have listed including those of Russian state responsibility and of preventability has obvious implications as to the scope of the inquest and the manner in which I should now proceed. | |
| "In this regard it has to be borne in mind that in conducting an inquest I have no power to take evidence in closed proceedings in the absence of the [interested parties]." | |
| Sir Robert said that there was material in the public domain about the events surrounding the death - but considering them alone would be insufficient. | |
| "My provisional view is that to entertain these issues on the basis of the available open evidence, but to disregard the [national security] evidence... would be to fail to discharge my duty to undertake a full, fair and fearless inquiry into the circumstances of Mr Litvinenko's death. | |
| "The same could be said of a decision to remove the issues from scope. But the better course is arguably not to address the issues at all rather than to do so an incomplete, inadequate and potentially misleading basis." |