Having received the official refusal to extradite Andrei Lygovoy, accused of he murder of Alexander Litvinenko, the London can begin pursuing him outside Russia or discussing with the Moscow the possibility of trying him in a third neutral country. The Financial Times reported that referring to a source of high rank in the government of the country.
Russia officially refused extradition a day before. The General Prosecutor’s office grounded the refusal by the Constitution on the RF that bans to extradite Russian citizens to foreign states.
The RF Prosecutor General although confirmed its readiness to help the London by all means in investigation of this murder. And if the Great Britain files inquiries and materials that concerned this case and prove Lugovoy’s participation in the murder, the Russia can even open a criminal case. A statement sent to London repeats what the RF Prosecutor General Yuriy Chayka has said.
That Lugovoy won’t be handed over was quite obvious, now all necessary formalities have been completed. Russia is disposed to charge “the Kremlin’s enemy no1”, Boris Berezovsky with the poisoning Litvinenko. A Deputy Prosecutor General Alexander Bastrykin announced that recently. He complained that the London examined only one version, according to which Andrei Lugovoy had killed Alexander Litvinenko. According to Alexander Bastrykin, Russia would like to examine several more variants, one of which surmises implication of Berezovsky.
During a press-conference in the beginning of the June the RF president Vladimir Putin even charged the UK special services with acting amateurish and said that they “allow multiple impostors, cheaters and terrorists to gather on their territory”. Few days before Lugovoy gave a briefing and accused Litvinenko and Berezovsky of collaborating with the British secret intelligence service.
Meanwhile, Eduard Limonov, a famous writer and one of the opposition’s leaders, joined to the UK and also demanded criminal prosecution of the businessman. July, 2 he came to the General Prosecutor’s Office and handed an application with demand to bring a criminal charge against Lugovoy for a menace of murder. It concerned with the interview given by Lugovoy to Komsomolskaya Pravda daily. “Lugovoy told that he had an information about attempt on my and Mikhail Kasyanov’s lives, so, I think, the Prosecutor General must examine it, the more so as it has been said by such a sinister person” - said Limonov to Komemrsant. In Limonov’s opinion, words of a person, who is considered a murderer in the Great Britain, are a direst menace against his life.
Lugovoy took Limonov’s appeal in ironically. “Everubody can become acquanted with my interview and make sure, that in it there are no bogeyman stories that Mr. Limonov has saw. By the way, recently an astrologer told me, that a comet approaches Moscow and that it can fall just on Limonov’s head. So, I would like to warn him”.
Britain's Crown Prosecution Service said on Thursday Berezovsky would not be charged with any criminal offences. The matter concerns his interview to Guardian where he called to overthrow “the criminal regime” in Russia.
Susan Hemming, head of the CPS counter-terrorism division, said: "Crucially, in the interview Mr Berezovsky repeatedly invoked the recent Orange Revolution in the Ukraine as an example. We concluded that he appeared to indicate civil disobedience as the model he was advocating. This would fall far short of advocating terrorist violence." She said that appeal for terrorist acts in other countries is a very serious crime that can be punished by life imprisonment. If the prosecution can suppose that it can overcome the defense of Berezovsky, the decision would be quite another.
It should be reminded that in the beginning of the week the FSB brought a charge against Berezovsky on Article 278 of Russia's Criminal Code (attempt of violent seizure of power). The charges are based on the interview given by Berezovsky to the Guardian on April 13. In the interview he acknowledged that he financed some people from the RF president’s surroundings that would prepare a coup d'etat. “It isn't possible to change this regime through democratic means. There can be no change without force, pressure."” - said the emigre Russian tycoon. According to him, he is keeping in touch with members of the Russian political elite who shares his opinion that Putin “is damaging Russia by rolling back democratic reforms, smothering opposition, centralising power and flouting the country's constitution.” A year before the businessman already made similar statements to a Russian radio station Echo of Moscow. After that the General Prosecutor’s Office sent twice the Great Britain an extradition appeal request but both times it was in vain.
