EIT: Venäjä on vastuussa Litvinenko murhasta Lontoossa

Russia was responsible for assassination of Aleksandr Litvinenko in the UK

In today’s Chamber judgment1 in the case of Carter v. Russia (application no. 20914/07) the European Court of Human Rights held that there had been:

• unanimously, a failure by the Government to comply with their obligations under Article 38 (obligation to furnish necessary facilities for the examination of a case) of the European Convention on Human Rights,
• by 6 votes to 1, a violation of Article 2 (right to life) in its substantive and procedural aspects.

The case concerned the poisoning and death of the applicant’s husband, Aleksandr Litvinenko, in the United Kingdom, and the investigations into his death. Mr Litvinenko had worked for the Russian security services before defecting to the United Kingdom where he was granted asylum. In 2006 he was poisoned with polonium 210 (a radioactive substance) in London and died. A public inquiry in the UK found that the assassination had been carried out by a certain Mr Lugovoy and a Mr Kovtun, who had been acting on behalf of someone else.

The Court found in particular that there was a strong prima facie case that, in poisoning Mr Litvinenko, Mr Lugovoy and Mr Kovtun had been acting as agents of the Russian State. It noted that the Government had failed to provide any other satisfactory and convincing explanation of the events or counter the findings of the UK inquiry.

The Court also found that the Russian authorities had not carried out an effective domestic investigation capable of leading to the establishment of the facts and, where appropriate, the

identification and punishment of those responsible for the murder.

Press release: Judgment Carter v. Russia – Russia was responsible for assassination of Aleksandr Litvinenko in the UK

Carter v. Russia