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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'"

16 of 235 comments (clear)

  1. YRO? by hereschenes · · Score: 2, Insightful

    What the hey does this have to do with Your Rights Online?

    --
    More like... nerdular nerdence!
  2. Interesting, but not 'YRO' by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Insightful

    This topic is interesting, but why is it listed under 'Your Rights Online', when 'Online' has nothing to do with this.

  3. ya right by mastershake_phd · · Score: 5, Insightful

    10:1 this guy dies mysteriously or disappears.

    --
    Libertarian Leaning Political Discussion Forum.
  4. He ASKED for this... by Karganeth · · Score: 5, Insightful

    There was absolutely no need for the James Bond style assasination. Why not just shoot the bugger using a silencer? Advantages of using a gun:

    1. Weapon doesn't decay.
    2. Don't need to visit a nuclear reactor (which will have very restricted access on) to get one.
    3. Doesn't leave a HUGE trail of everywhere you have been with it.
    4. Less chance of target surving long enough to give full description of you.

    This assasination was far too elaborate...

    1. Re:He ASKED for this... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      There were many less obvious and easier ways to do it.

      It seems apparent that it was the assassin's intension to show that it was an assassination by a well connected person, and to get a lot of media attention. They also wanted him to die slowly and make his accusations.

      It seems likely the assassination is associated with Putin, committed by either a supporter or an opponent. A supporter might make others more fearful of dissidence. It would also end his speaking out against the administration, but his assassination probably raised more attention than what he did while he was alive, especially internationally. An opponent would have the obvious advantage of making his enemy look like a murderer.

  5. Can we fix the headline? by Stonent1 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Could we change the Slashdot headline to say they have charged someone. Legally a representative of the police or any legal branch of a government, would not say "We've identified the killer". It is up to the courts to decide if he killed someone, not the police. The police can only supply evidence to the prosecutor and a jury will decide if he did it or not.

    1. Re:Can we fix the headline? by ozbird · · Score: 2, Insightful

      The missing word is "alleged".

    2. Re:Can we fix the headline? by David+Gould · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Lol! Don't you know that rights, like the presumption of innocence, are only for American citizens? Correction: American citizens who haven't been accused of having links to terrorists.
      --
      David Gould
      main(i){putchar(340056100>>(i-1)*5&31|!!(i<6)<< 6)&&main(++i);}
  6. Actually, it was perfect assissination by blantonl · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Actually, it was a perfect assassination. Did you see how the guy perished? All his hair fell out. He sat in a hospital bed for a tremendous amount of time. He suffered. He bled internally.

    Why was it a perfect assassination? Because it involved radiation which inherently causes anyone to shiver, and it caused a slow, painful, agonizing death, which sends about as big of a message as publicly drawing and quartering the guy.

    --
    Lindsay Blanton
    RadioReference.com
  7. Re:A better question by ptbarnett · · Score: 4, Insightful
    Why would anyone poison someone with many more times the amount required to kill them with a material that is so expensive and easy to trace? There are waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay easier ways to kill someone. Ways that would garner much less attention.

    And that's exactly why I believe this method was used.

    No individual or even group would have been able to get that much polonium, without at least the tacit approval of a government with a sufficiently advanced nuclear program. The list of potential suppliers is very short.

    This was a message, which is very clear to dissenters and critics: you can't hide. We can get to you, or at least those that are close to you, no matter where you are.

  8. Re:Summary From A Former Soviet Citizen by chord.wav · · Score: 2, Insightful

    When can afford any method, there's no need to use a traceable one unless you want it to be traced. Even a bullet is less traceable than Polonium-210.

  9. Re:Implications for British Power by malsdavis · · Score: 2, Insightful

    There is quite a large disparity between that case and this one however in that the case you mentioned was a local offence that was not politicaly sensitive and not in the legal area for which diplomatic immunity is for. This case however is politicaly sensitive and may or may not involve the Russian government, unlike the other case, there are many overriding reasons why the Russain governemnt would not wish to hand over the suspect.

  10. Re:wtf is pollonium? by Temporal · · Score: 2, Insightful

    So... Every single one of these is written by the same guy?

  11. Buy it embedded in anti-static devices by Goonie · · Score: 2, Insightful

    You can also buy anti-static devices with (potentially lethal) quantities of Po-210 embedded in them. But the Po-210 is embedded in metal foil, and is quite difficult to extract.

    --

    Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from a rigged demo
    --Andy Finkel (J. Klass?)
  12. Re:Tracked by his radioactive trail by annenk38 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    In all likelihood, the brits knew who was behind it from the very beginning. The question was whether they would want to butt heads with Russia over a small nut like Litvinenko. The assasination in itself was merely a shot across Berezovsky's bow, who's lately become a major nuisance to Russia's geopolitical interests. In that sense, the alleged assasin has only done his duty for his country, nothing more, nothing less. Something else must have forced the issue to resurface -- perhaps the recent gas "shortage". If the Brits surrender Berezovsky they'll want something more substantial in return.

  13. Re:Tracked by his radioactive trail by nuzak · · Score: 2, Insightful

    > He openly provided funds to Chechen terrorists.

    Openly? Cite it. He seems to be particularly guilty of having a big mouth ("That includes taking power by force, which I am working on") but it's hard to imagine having any success in seizing Moscow with Chechen fighters.

    Not that I think Boris is a champion of liberty -- he's probably even more of a crook than Putin and Yeltsin -- but his criticism of the Chechen war doesn't exactly make him Al Qaeda.

    --
    Done with slashdot, done with nerds, getting a life.