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British Police Identify Killer in Radiation Case

Posted by Zonk on from the hercule-poirot-to-the-white-phone-please dept.

reporter writes "According to a front-page story by The Guardian, British authorities have identified Andrei Lugovoi to be the murderer who used radioactive pollonium-210 to kill Andrei Litvinenko. The British government will ask Moscow to extradite Lugovoi. The Guardian states: 'Associates of the dead man have repeatedly accused President Vladimir Putin's government of being behind his murder, a claim the Kremlin rejects. While it is known that detectives believe they have uncovered evidence pointing to Mr Lugovoi's involvement, it is not clear whether they have established a motive for the murder'"

5 of 235 comments (clear)

  1. Re:ya right by mastershake_phd · · Score: 3, Informative

    Actually I was trying to suggest the Russians would kill him.

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    Libertarian Leaning Political Discussion Forum.
  2. Billionaire by Morosoph · · Score: 3, Informative

    The UK may have to hand over a scummy billionaire who profited immensely off of the rush to privatize Russia, which would be cool: two scumbags busted for the price of one. This billionaire might indeed be scummy, but he wouldn't receive a fair trial, according to English Courts, so extradition is off. As the article says, the Russians will, most likely, not accept this as an excuse.

    In fact, this is the whole problem: to Russia, the concept of an independent judiciary is not credible.

    --
    Wikileaks, no DNS
  3. Re:Uh, postage costs for radioactive items? by tbo · · Score: 4, Informative

    Disclaimer: IAAP (I Am A Physicist)

    Just think - if you could buy as much polonium 210 as what was used against Litvinenko, do you really think that any postage service would want to deliver a radioactive package?

    Actually, Polonium 210 is an alpha emitter, which means it's quite safe unless you ingest or inhale it (at which point even small amounts become deadly). Just putting it in a paper bag would shield you from much of the radiation. As long as it was securely packaged, I don't think it would be unsafe to mail.

  4. Re:Tracked by his radioactive trail by Cyberax · · Score: 4, Informative

    What??

    He openly provided funds to Chechen terrorists. He openly declared his plans to violently overthrow Russian government. If both of these are legal, then I'm Santa Claus.

  5. Re:Summary From A Former Soviet Citizen by ezh · · Score: 3, Informative
    Here are the poll results of exUSSR citizens that live abroad (mostly in Ireland). Lots of them think it was FSB that killed Litvinenko, but majority actually think it was an accident (Lugovoi and Litvinenko were smuggling radioactive materials from Russia). Poll options one by one:
    1. Federal Security Bureau
    2. Russian Mafia that Litvinenko tried to blackmail
    3. Suicide to blame Putin
    4. Americans or other enemies of Russia
    5. Accident when smuggling radioactive materials
    Option #5 seems to be the most popular one. I know this poll is not very representative, but it certainly beats your coworker's opinion... Tschuss...