Britain: Court Orders Government to Reconsider Spy Death Inquiry

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/12/world/europe/britain-court-orders-government-to-reconsider-spy-death-inquiry.html

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The London High Court has quashed the British government’s decision not to hold a public inquiry into the death of a Russian spy, Alexander Litvinenko, who died in London in 2006 after being poisoned with a radioactive substance. Tuesday’s judgment means the government will have to reconsider the decision, a diplomatically delicate matter as a public inquiry could delve into the issue of whether Russia was involved in the death. Moscow denies any hand in it. Mr. Litvinenko, 43, died after drinking tea poisoned with polonium 210. From his deathbed he accused the Russian president, Vladimir V. Putin, of ordering his murder, a charge the Kremlin rejected.