A judicial inquiry into the causes of death of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko will start in 2013

A judicial inquiry into the causes of death of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko will start in 2013

Six years after the death of former Russian agent Alexander Litvinenko, poisoned in London, a criminal investigation to determine the exact cause of his death will be opened early next year, announced British justice.

This type of investigation is to establish the exact circumstances where a violent or unexplained deaths. Achieved while the police investigation, it is not followed by a process and not intended to establish responsibilities in terms of criminal or civil.

Robert Owen Judge of the High Court of Justice, in charge of the investigation, lamented the delay "regrettable" between her former agent and launching this procedure. "There will be no further delay," he assured Thursday.

He said he plans to begin the "first major hearings as early as possible in 2013," soon to be completed "necessary preliminaries".

Certain parts of the police report on possible contacts of former Russian spy with British intelligence services will not be made public but, at the request of the government, he said.

Litvinenko case is a matter of dispute between London and Moscow, Russia's refusal to extradite Andrei Lugovoi, British investigators considered as the prime suspect.

Alexander Litvinenko, a turncoat of the FSB (Russian secret services) refugee in Britain, drank tea in November 2006 with Lugovoi and Dmitry Kovtun by businessman at a hotel in London. Subsequently became seriously ill and died in hospital due to poisoning with polonium, a radioactive substance.