RSS Feed
May 19th, 2015 
David Schulberg 
Russian businessman Aleksandr Perepelichny, a key witness in the Sergey Magnitsky case who died in southern England in November 2012, may have been poisoned, British media reported.
Perepelichny allegedly cooperated with Swiss investigators
looking into the death of Sergey Magnitsky and a $240 million
money laundering case, involving Russian officials and organized
crime.
Magnitsky was a Russian lawyer, who was held in pre-trial
detention in connection with tax fraud, and died in 2009 due to
being denied crucial medical treatment by prison officials.
His death caused an international outcry and led to the passing
of the so-called Magnitsky Act by the US Congress in 2012, which
punished a group of Russian state officials and law enforcers
with a US asset freeze and a visa ban over alleged human rights
violations.
READ MORE:
‘Key witness’ in Magnitsky case suddenly dies in UK – report
Shortly before testifying in the Magnitsky case, Perepelichny
collapsed and died while jogging near his home near in Surrey,
south of London.
The Surrey police initially found nothing suspicious about the
44-year-old man’s death, saying that there was “no
third-party involvement.”
However, a pre-inquest hearing Monday has shed light on new facts
in the case, which contradicted the initial conclusions by the
police.
A top poisons expert examined a sample of Perepilichny’s stomach
contents last year and discovered the presence of a chemical
strongly associated with a lethal plant toxin, the Independent
newspaper reported.
Professor Monique Simmonds from Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew,
London, told the court that the substance was extremely rare in
nature and could only be obtained from gelsemium, a poisonous
plant also known as “heartbreak grass.”
The plant only grows in remote areas in Russia and China, and
became known as a poison used by assassins in the two countries.
READ MORE: After Magnitsky: Dead lawyer’s boss Browder and his
legal hurdles – now in US
However, it isn’t used very often. The most recent known use of
gelsemium as a poison was the assassination of Chinese
billionaire Huang Guang in 2011.
Lawyers representing the police at Surrey Coroner’s Court in
Woking acknowledged that the presence of the chemical
“ion” in Perepilichny’s system was a “cause for very
serious concern,” the Independent reported.
The new finding prompted the judge to reschedule a hearing in
Perepilichny’s case, due to begin Monday, until September as to
allow more tests to be performed.
According to the Independent, the Surrey police may find
themselves in hot water for negligence if Perepilichny’s
poisoning is confirmed, as the case would resemble the
high-profile murder of Aleksandr Litvinenko in London in 2006.
Litvinenko, a former Russian security officer, died in hospital
after being poisoned with radioactive Polonium 210, with his
death acting as a stumbling block in relations between Russia and
the UK.
Source Article from http://rt.com/news/260065-witness-magnitsky-case-poison/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=RSS
Key Magnitsky case witness may have been poisoned – report
http://rt.com/news/260065-witness-magnitsky-case-poison/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=RSS
http://rt.com/rss/news/
RT – News
RT : News
http://rt.com/static/img/RT_logo_250x250.png
Posted in 
Tags: 
