The Litvinenko Inquiry
2429870
2429870
You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Litvinenko</strong> <strong>Inquiry</strong><br />
8.124 Mr Cotlick said that he was aware that Mr Filinov had a personal relationship with<br />
Mr Lugovoy. He said that he had “no doubt whatsoever” that Mr Lugovoy had himself<br />
handed the T-shirt to Mr Filinov, in order for him to give it to Mr Berezovsky.<br />
8.125 Taken on its own (and without, of course, the benefit of oral evidence from Mr Lugovoy),<br />
it would be difficult to know what to make of this T-shirt. On any view, it demonstrates<br />
that Mr Lugovoy approved of Mr <strong>Litvinenko</strong>’s murder. It was also, clearly, a threat<br />
to Mr Berezovsky. Further than that, the T-shirt could be seen as an admission by<br />
Mr Lugovoy that he had poisoned Mr <strong>Litvinenko</strong>, made at a time when he was confident<br />
that he would never be extradited from Russia, and wished to taunt Mr Berezovsky<br />
with that fact. Alternatively, it could, perhaps, be seen as an extraordinarily tasteless<br />
joke.<br />
8.126 However, the T-shirt does not stand alone. As I have indicated, I am satisfied on the<br />
basis of other evidence (most importantly, the forensic evidence) that Mr Lugovoy did<br />
indeed poison Mr <strong>Litvinenko</strong>. Set against that context, this T-shirt can only be seen as<br />
Mr Lugovoy’s gleeful acknowledgement of his part in Mr <strong>Litvinenko</strong>’s death.<br />
8.127 <strong>The</strong>re is one last matter to address under this heading, and it relates to Mr Kovtun.<br />
I have referred above to the fact that, after Mr <strong>Litvinenko</strong>’s death, Mr Kovtun had a<br />
conversation with his ex-wife’s mother, Elenora Wall, about the radiation poisoning<br />
that he was suffering from. When interviewed by the German authorities, Dr Wall gave<br />
this account of the conversation:<br />
“He told me that he had probably got some of the poison which killed <strong>Litvinenko</strong>.<br />
He said word for word, ‘Those arseholes have probably poisoned us all’.” 12<br />
8.128 It seems to me to be at least possible that this comment made by Mr Kovtun to his<br />
mother-in-law, no doubt in an unguarded moment, was a revealing one.<br />
8.129 <strong>The</strong> implication of his words is that a group of people, the unidentified “arseholes”<br />
– had been responsible for poisoning both Mr <strong>Litvinenko</strong> and him – and possibly<br />
Mr Lugovoy as well. This would not be consistent with the case pursued by the<br />
Russian investigators, who accused Mr <strong>Litvinenko</strong> of having poisoned Mr Kovtun and<br />
Mr Lugovoy. But it would be consistent with a scenario in which others had tasked<br />
Mr Kovtun and Mr Lugovoy to kill Mr <strong>Litvinenko</strong>, and had given them a poison with<br />
which to do it, but had not told them what the poison was or what its properties were,<br />
with the consequence that the poisoners, through ignorance, ended up contaminating<br />
themselves.<br />
8.130 If that is what Mr Kovtun meant, then it was certainly an unwise comment for him<br />
to have made. But, as we have seen, making unwise comments is something that<br />
Mr Kovtun appears to have done from time to time.<br />
Evidence apparently inconsistent with Lugovoy and Kovtun’s<br />
involvement<br />
8.131 I did hear some evidence that at least appeared to be inconsistent with Mr Lugovoy<br />
and Mr Kovtun having been responsible for Mr <strong>Litvinenko</strong>’s death. I must, of course,<br />
address that evidence.<br />
12<br />
Elenora Wall 32/81<br />
202